The Epipleptic Bicycle by Edward Gorey

Via Gwadzilla

And the Tattoo from Too Many Bicycles

Bike Doco

Two young women asked me to be in a doco they are making about bike riding in Sydney. They are planning to submit it for the Bicycle Film Festival next year. I went and met them up at the Nunnery bike co-op in Newtown.

Minerva

Today I picked up my new bike. It's a Surly Crosscheck with the works. Dave from Cheeky Transport built it for me.

It has an Alfine 8 speed hub

And dynamo powered front and rear lights

Cheeky Monkey and Surly, as Dave says "A match made in heaven"

Dave

I've named her Minerva. It is a feminine name of Latin origin. The meaning of the word Minerva is “the mind”. Minerva was the name of the Roman goddess of wisdom. She is equivalent to the Greek goddess Athena. It's also the name of the Head of Gryffindor House.

Minerva is the goddess of Wisdom, intelligence, craft and learning. Children and scholars would worship Minerva to seek help with learning or the emperor would ask her to give him wisdom to rule the country better. Minerva was also the goddess of war and soldiers would pray for her help during war.
Coincidently Minerva was also the name of the first armoured cars which were built by the Belgians for World War One. Kind of appropriate seeing as they call the Surly Crosscheck the "Army Jeep" of bicycles!




Minerva is another name for Pallas who is represented by the Queen of Spades in playing cards and the Queen of Swords in Tarot.

The Queen of Swords represents a highly intellectual and strong-willed woman able to make her point effectively without unjustly harming others. She is realistic and pragmatic; she is a loyal friend and a determined ally.She is a woman who is able to balance out her emotions with intellect and she is considered the mother of all wisdom. The Queen of Swords is able to allow others to go through their necessary life lessons without the need to take care of everything. She is progressive in her thinking and is genuinely fair with others. She is impartial and will stand against even the strongest enemies when she feels that she is correct. The Queen of Swords is logical and methodical and has earned her accomplishments the hard way. She demands respect and likewise she deserves the respect that she asks for. The Queen of Swords has no need for emotional embellishments as an appeal to her intellect will always gain her attention. She is the strict representation of true justice tempered with the ability to carry out what needs to be done.

Junk Band Gig!

Photos from Cazzbo's European tour are still trickling in. Cazz's band is playing soon! The gig is 8pm Harp Hotel 900 Princes Hwy Tempe, Friday 25th of January.

Gear up Girl!

8 March 2008 7:30 AM
Gear up, girl and get together with other like-minded women cyclists on International Women's Day, for a fun day out on your bike. Get fit, feel healthy and make a difference by leading an environmentally friendly lifestyle.
Gear Up Girl Challenge entries are now open! As part of the City of Sydney Spring Cycle series Gear up and take part in NSW's first all women's cycling event. Saturday 8 March 2008 is International Women's Day and what better way to celebrate than to join with women of all ages and abilities and take part in a unique all women's cycle ride. Choose either the 15km route around Sydney Olympic Park or the 55km route from Cronulla to the finish line at Sydney Olympic Park. Get in early to receive a free Gear Up Girl helmet from Netti. Why not invite a friend to join you on the day?
To register and for more information go to http://www.gearupgirl.com.au/

More photos from Cazzbo

More beautiful photos from the Netherlands taken by Cazzbo

The Orange Lady in Amsterdam

Santa's helpers with a shy toddler. Nijmegen

...cycle parking area...Amsterdam

Street Art Amsterdam

How to deal with motorists, Nankai style

When a car hits a cyclist in China...

My Bike Broke

Sob...

The question is, do I fix it? Or use this as an excuse to buy a fabulous new Surly?

What would you do?

Lance Armstrong goes Punk

People have been asking, "What does Lance do now that he's given up winning Le Tour?" well the answer is that he's joined the Rat Patrol!

Cazzbo is back

Cazz has been on tour in the Netherlands. She brought back this photo which proves that even nice, bicycle-riding Dutch parents leave their kids locked in the car while they go shopping...

Boston Messengers Riding on water

What we did today

Still school holidays here and I've been taking the girls out on their bikes every day. It makes for a great (no cost) activity for them. They love the independence of being in charge of their own vehicle.

We stopped at Newtown Square to eat some of the choc-chip cookies we baked yesterday and watch the passing fashion parade. I love sitting here and watching all the people go by. Especially the ones on bikes!

We found this Love letter on the sign in the square so I took a picture of it for Nosey in Newtown.

Then we stopped to take this shot for the Newtown Flikr group

Destination Arrival!
Cheeky Transport is our favourite bike shop. You always get a warm welcome here. Adam gave us cold drinks and some free spokey dokes for the girls. We bought some cycle gloves which the girls have been wanting for a long time.

The girls put the spokey dokes on straight away.

Couldn't resist snapping this one for Flikr


Then we went and had some sushi for lunch

After doing some shopping and riding home again we were pretty warm so we had a dip in the pool and then watched this cool video. Mother will be home soon so we have to get started cooking, this is what we are going to make.

mammals biking through the dying days of the petro-dinosaurs

We need a solution to the global warming caused by cars, but biofuel isn’t it. If the production of biofuels is big enough to affect climate change, it will be big enough to cause global starvation.

The market responds to money, not need. People who own cars have more money than people at risk of starvation. In a contest between their demand for fuel and poor people’s demand for food, the car-owners win every time. Something very much like this is happening already. Though 800 million people are permanently malnourished, the global increase in crop production is being used to feed animals: the number of livestock on earth has quintupled since 1950. The reason is that those who buy meat and dairy products have more purchasing power than those who buy only subsistence crops.

Monbiot

Cora Urquhart Potter

Cora Urquhart Potter quoted in the New York Times in January 1896

"There are many reasons why women ought to patronize cycling. Three, however, strike me with particular force. The first is that it give one the gratification of being one's own master or mistress; another is the simplicity of exercise, while the third is the fact, to which all riders can testify, that it improves the physical health, thus benefiting us mentally and morally. Since I began riding I have been capable of much additional hard work, my appetite has been improved, and I sleep better, and from every standpoint I am an enthusiast about cycling."

Via Bicycle Diaries

Bicycle Ambos

We saw these guys in Hyde Park yesterday getting ready for the opening night of the Sydney Festival. About five minutes later two of them passed us going flat out up Macquarie St. They don't have sirens but I guess they don't need them to cut through traffic.