Crazy German Fixie Chicks

Cycling down the road no-handed thinking your great? Up the game a bit and do a wheelie at the same time. While your at it, get a friend to stand on your shoulders. Still think you’re great? Watch these two girls do all that while spinning round on the spot. Almost as good as me!

London 2012 VeloPark design

Triple Beijing gold medal-winning cyclist Chris Hoy has helped unveil plans for the VeloPark for London’s 2012 Olympic Games. This is an animated fly-though of the VeloPark which will include a 6,000-seat velodrome to host the cycling events as well as a BMX circuit, and after the games a road cycle circuit and mountain bike course will be added, so the park can be used by everyone.

BBC News Article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7603640.stm

From YouTube:

A computer-generated video showing how the VeloPark will look in 2012. The VeloPark, to be based in the north of the Olympic Park, will include a 6,000 seat Velodrome to host the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Indoor Track Cycling events, as well as a BMX circuit for Olympic events. After the Games, a road cycle circuit and mountain bike course will be added to create a VeloPark combining the disciplines, with facilities for cyclists of all levels. The VeloPark will be linked into cycle routes across London, connecting the whole of the capital with the new world-class facilities.

1990 Match Sprint World Championships

Good explanation (and demonstration) of the ‘cat and mouse’ game and ‘track stand’ technique used in track sprinting.

Bike messenger rides with one leg

Nicole Cooke gets gold Road Race for GB in Beijing

This video starts just at the point where Cooke fell away from the rest of the group – before this shot of them coming round the corner, the group was pretty tight, then when they appear under the bridge, Cooke is nowhere to be seen. You can hear the shock in the commentator’s voice as he sees Cooke has lost contact, but she pulls it back during the end sprint to get gold with a time of 3hours 32mins 24secs. In her interview with Sue Barker she explains that it was cold, wet and a bit greasy round that corner…so typical Welsh weather then!

The boring bits from the guardian:

• First ever medal from a British female cyclist
• First gold from a Welsh athlete since 1972
• Great Britain’s 200th gold medal in Olympic history

Good to see us get a gold, and in a cycling event no less!

Theo Bos drafting at 140km/hr

He’s a quick little fella, eh?

Cambridge Cyclists

Check out the u-turn at 00:19!

NYC Police Officer Attacks Cyclist in 25th July Critical Mass Video

I am totally gobsmacked by this footage – I know it’s widely reported that these events can build up resentment and animosity, and I’m no CM advocate, but this kind of violence is reprehensible, even more so because it came from a Police Officer (Patrick Pogan) who maintained in his statement that the cyclist (Christopher Long) was to blame:

“[Christopher Long] steered the … bicycle in the direction of [Officer Pogan] and drove the bicycle directly into [Officer Pogan]’s body, causing [Officer Pogan] to fall to the ground and causing [Officer Pogan] to suffer lacerations on [his] forearms.”

The Manhattan attorney’s office filed charges of “attempted assault in the 3rd Degree” against Chris Long as a result of Pogan’s statement. After his arrest, Chris Long spent 26 hours in jail as a result of the charges files against him.

More coverage on the incident by The New York Times (with an update here) and Gothamist (with update here).

View Pogan’s statement on Chris Long’s arrest record below or download it as a pdf.

Side By Side tandem bike

Looks like fun!

You’re better off by bike?

According to TfL’s ongoing summer cycling campaign that I recently found out about, we’re still “better off by bike”. It’s an unfortunate coincidence then, that these animated bicycle symbols in last year’s tv advert should bear such a striking similarity to ghost bikes!