13 September 2012
First cold day after a lovely hot summer (only 10-12 deg). To make matters worse it rained as well. The days are getting shorter and Autumn isn't far away. My right pedal wasn't turning very well, but after a squirt of WD40 it's spinning round smoothly again + I re-fitted my €5 rear fender, which does a great job of keeping my arse dry. (Message to myself - remember to keep some gloves in my bag as I will soon need them).
Tonight the Radkult (bicycle film festival) starts and if it isn't raining I will attend the night ride. It wasn't raining so I headed on down to the Kuenstlerhaus and as I rode up I could hear the sound of someone rapping along to a brass band (not sure of the bands name, as forgot to ask)*. Although it might sound like a strange combination, it worked and was pretty good especially the night rider bit. There were also some free beers on offer, which I of course accepted, a b&w bike photo display and a strange geared contraption which operated some toothbrushes when turned. Some time later the nightride began and off we went towards the Prater following the sound system bike. One participant forgot to bring his bike, however managed to find one conveniently unlocked, even though it was almost unroadworthy (flat tyres, loose headset, no front brake etc), he made it and had a lot of fun on the way. During the ride we seemed to upset a number of motorists including a large coach, by taking up too much of their road space and delaying them for all of a few seconds, but at 23.00 these guys need to chill out a bit. The ride for me ended at Fluc, after this I headed home alone through the Prater. Note - to the owner of the abandoned bike, it is waiting for you at the bike rack in front of Fluc, should you be interested. * looked up the band and they are called The Pullup Orchestra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0WKJTYhKFg
14 September 2012
Yesterday Karlspaltz was alive and the place to be. When I arrived the Buskers festival was in full swing. Even though this looked and sounded good I was here for the outdoor bike cinema, so didn't pay it much attention. It wasn't that easy to find with so much going on and when I did the screen was hidden behind a group of nicely dressed tweed riders who were happily dancing away. The Tweed Ride happened earlier and at one point I was up for it, but it kicked off at 15.00 and I couldn't find the time. After dragging over a park bench and tucking into some of the light refreshments I had brought with me I was ready for the films. The turn out was good, but the sound wasn't great, because it was being overpowered by the Buskers. The short bike films came and went, some were good and others weren't, but most of the audience waited patiently for the Pirateslava film to come on, as many took part in the event or knew someone who did. I think a few films were skipped because of technical issues before Pirateslava started, anyway I think I caught a glimpse of myself near the beginning, but would like to see the film again as I was concentrating too hard on looking for myself and not what was going on. Maybe it will be on YouTube soon. After the films finished the socializing continued and a large crowd of bike riders stayed at Karlsplatz until all their beers were consumed, before heading over the road to Brut. I missed the band, because I was outside of the club for most of the time, but did see a couple of the Goldsprint heats. I was too drunk to compete plus I remembered how tiring 500m on one of the bikes was, so gave it a miss. Well done to the winners who ever they were. Whenever there is a bike event what I really like to see are many bikes locked up in the area to anything stuck in the ground and tonight there were loads of bikes everywhere.
15/16 September 2012
The Vienna bike film festival continued over the weekend and on Saturday night I was treated to 6 hours of bike films in the Kuenstlerhaus cinema. Most of the films I really enjoyed, these included one from Ghana about some bmx trick riders, another from the UK, called the boy and line of sight from the USA, filmed using cameras attached to a helmet of fixed gear alley cat racing in NYC, London etc. But most importantly I saw Pirateslava again on the big screen and I feature twice (for a split second). My ride home woke me up after all that cinema and a one point I felt like jumping some red lights and taking on the cars like the alley cat racers I saw in the film had done (but I didn't). On that note in today's alley cat a friend of mine CK came 2nd and won himself a tough bike lock - congrats.
Sunday afternoon featured BMX riders doing their stuff, tall bike jousting and Vienna's nicest bike competition etc. All in all I had a good weekend, but am ready for a good sleep.
Radku.lt pictures
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| Bambooride |
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| Beautiful bike competition - this one has nice lugs |
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| Another beautiful bike with a Bamboo frame |
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| A new classic |
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| hand painted |
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| The music verein (new year's concert is held here) |
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| The Winners |
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| The Bambooride stand - attracting attention |
I forgot to bring my lights for the way home, but used this freebie to attach my phone to the handlebars, which has a torch.
And it works well.
18 September 2012
Cycling in our work place is catching on. 2 years ago I was the only one commuting out of 7 workers, but now 5 are cycling every day. The latest convert to join our cycle to work club, fixed up her old childhood bike from the 80's with new tyres etc over the weekend. Already she is convinced cycling is the way to go as it saves her time.
22 September 2012
Rasen am Ring
Today was
Autofreitag or Car free day in Vienna and many other cities around the world. A section of the Ringstrasse, which runs round the centre of the city was closed to motorised vehicles between 10.00 - 22.00. Some parts were grass turfed and instead of being a busy one way road with two to three lanes of slow moving traffic, which often are going nowhere and at a standstill was now the perfect place to have a picnic. The city residentents were out in force enjoying themselves and the moment (as this kind of thing doesn't happen often). There were various stalls and stands offering information on alternative living (without cars etc) or providing beer and food in return for just a small donation to keep them going. The WUK had brought along 10 or so crazy bikes for all to try out, which proved very popular with both kids and adults. I even gave a few a try. Without cars on this and other roads in the centre of the city an amazing amount of space for people could be generated. Boundaries that can only be crossed when the lights change are removed, the white noise of the engines ticking over disappear and of course the air becomes purer to breath. The centre of Vienna can easily be navigated quickly by public transport. The trams and underground trains carry 100s of people at a time pretty well and for those keen to move around by their own steam, there is always the bike or by walking (both also good and quite quick options to rival the car) I should know after 5 years of happily moving around without a car. Here the car isn't really much of an advantage to anyone in this built up environment. So it would be great if the Car free day could happen more than just once a year, as once a year just rubs it in how nice it could be without them, before having to endure another 364 days with them. It's just a suggestion, but how about doing this kind of thing once a month, before moving forward and making it a weekly thing. From there how about every day. Cars/trucks etc could still have access daily for a couple of hours to allow access for shop deliveries etc. And maybe once a year we could let the cars back into the city for 1 day a year and call it a Car day. It would be such a novelty that crowds of people would line the streets to watch them slowly parade by. Now that's a thought.
(Pic's taken and shared by Katrin)
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| A push me pull me bike |
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| Sizing up A WUK bike (this one moves forward by pedaling backwards) |
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| Here in wobbly motion |
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Not a recommended form of city transport
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25 September 2012
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| Always lock your bike, but remember to take the key with you |
Today I had a real treat, not only did I get to ride along the Wienerfluss bike path to Pukersdorf and back in the sun, but I spent the afternoon with the two men responsible for providing Austria with bikes made from bamboo frames. I was given a guided tour of the workshop and was talked through the whole process of how the frames are put together, which was really interesting. The company is called Bambooride and they currently have two models to choose from. One is a stylish single speed and the other they call the "Boorie" which is fitted with an internal rear gear hub with choice of 8 or 11 gears. The frames and geometry are made to measure to suit the individual rider and are hand built in a small fair trade factory in Ghana. I got to ride the single speed at the Radkult festival a few weeks ago and was very impressed with it's looks, the way it handled and the overall specification.
Below The Boorie (The new model apparently does away with the chain tensioner)
& the Single Speed
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| A bamboo framed racing bike (prototype, still in development) - I want one of these. |
If you are interested in finding out more or how to get hold of one here is a link to their website
http://www.bambooride.com/
Then on my way home from Bambooride I got a call from a friend telling me there is some track racing going on at the Dusika velodrome. I went last year and had a good time, so I headed straight there. I got to see the men's Kerin finals and the Madison race. The racing was entertaining, with the Czechs just edging out the Austrians over the ten sprint laps in the Madison, averaging + 50kph over 200 laps. To get into the velodrome it's free, bringing your own beer is also allowed and because their are only a few spectators there, there are 100's of free seats to choose from. Afterwards on the way past the national football stadium our fixed gear road going track bikes were then treated to sprint.
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| Getting ready for the Kerin |
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| An almost 70kph lap (that's probably why the picture is so blurred) |
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| A rust coloured bike (anti theft deterrent) |
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| A blow out or someone was trying to steal the rubber |
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| Without the top on it will attract a bit of rust |
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| Lock graveyard |
7 October 2012
Yesterday I took the racing bike out and decided to ride some hills, like this.
The bike handled it well up the twisty cobbled roads. Plus I had a low gear or 2 to spare, even on the steepest parts. I reckon riding fixed has helps me push a bigger cog. Kahlenberg is one of the hills I rode up and at the top there is a great view over Vienna, a coffee bar, restaurant and this church (which came in useful to lean my bike against).
The way down was fun, but the brakes weren't as good as I would have liked them to be and the rims were nice and hot when I got to the bottom.
Here are some other greenish mobility alternatives on offer I came across today, should you wish to leave the bike at home.
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| No peddles, but it has a electric motor and some nice saddlebags |
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| Car Sharing point, this must be new as I haven't seen it before |
Lastly - this is a strange place for a gear shifter.
Sunday 14 October
Some colourful bikes seen around town
But I think the yellow one just sits there and looks pretty.
Today I took out the racer for a quick spin round the insel, before getting an sms that the Ride Unicorn group was heading out for a ride. 3 of the members were in Milan and taking part in the Red Hook Crit fixed gear race (not sure how they got on yet as only the top 10 from 100 competitors are listed on their website and none of them were in it). Anyway a group of 8 riders (mostly fixed) headed off from central Vienna following the Donau upstream. The weather was really good, quite warm and very sunny (for October). We made it to Tulln, which is about 45kms away. Before heading back we drank a beer and chilled out on the grass in front of the Donau concert stage. The way back was far tougher as the wind had picked up and it was blowing straight at us. It didn't pass and at Greifenstein we decided to cross over the river at the dam to the northside. The wind was far worse on this side, but we battled on until reaching the tip of the Insel. One of the guys had a puncture, but we had with us another tube to fix the problem (always a good idea). I parted we the others here and headed home to put my feet up. All in all a good days riding. I probably did 100 or more kms.
19 October 2012
Tuesday was wet all day and unfortunately I was out and about a lot. Just as I had dried off from one soaking, I was out in it again. But after Tuesday the weather got better and the rain has been forgotten.
I have just got back from part one of the 20th year critical mass ride in Vienna. Someone told me that the ride was going to last 20 hours, I wrongly laughed thinking it was just a just a joke, but after 2 or 3 other people said the same thing I started to believe it could be true. Anyway it is true and if you want to join them then here is the website, which includes a livetracker and list of meeting points.
I think I will join the ride again tomorrow.
29 October 2012
Yesterday I rode out to Purkersdorf and saw snow. It wasn't that cold, but it was a stark reminder that winter has arrived. I spent the day helping Bambooride, prepare to build 3 bamboo framed bikes. On Thursday the frames will arrive from Ghana and after collecting them from the airport we will assemble them.
Today it is snowing in Vienna and only 1 degrees. I am just about to head out into it...........on the bike of course.
2 November 2012
Here are some carbon forks & handlebars that have been lovingly sanded down by me, ready for spray painting. These will go on the next Bamboo framed bikes.
I saw this racing bike with a strange lever on the down tube and on further inspection realised it is a clamp that opens and enables it to fold in half. It is a Dahon Espresso and could come in useful for taking on trains / planes etc or fitting it into a small apartment.
And here is a good home made wooden mudguard. A little on the heavy side, but quite sustainable.
And something that got me thinking (How much more space would there be without cars), but when I took this picture I could only see 1car, so the message was hard to get my head round.
18 November 2012
I need to get a new tyre as I have somehow ruined the front one on my fixed gear bike. It developed a bump that just made it through the space under the brake, but began rubbing more the more I rode. I took off the tyre and discovered that some of the material inner structure had given way. Anyway it is now in the bin.
I passed the 13,000km mark on the fixed gear bike and the next target is 15,000km. Maybe in 4 months time I will be there.
At the Bike Kitchen on Thursday they showed a bike film by Oscar (Velonautica), featuring cargobikes, repair tips and dangerous bike paths. Apparently there will be more installments and they will also be shown on Okto TV. It was interesting stuff and I will head up to the Bike Kitchen again next Thursday for more.
On Sunday I joined a couple of others from Rideunicorn and we took on the Wienerwald. We rode three different bikes, I was riding my racing bike and the other two had a brake less fixed gear and a cyclocross bike. We managed 3 big hills including the Excelberg (516m). I had never been up this one before and it took some effort. The fixed gear rider did well and made it up first.
It was fun to descend and I put my 53 x 12 cogs into action. Apparently we climbed 666 meters today, which wasn't too bad for starters. I hope to ride Grossglockner next year so today was a good training ride.
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