Jubilee// Bunting, Bikes, Bells and Sick Bags?

London has gone Jubilee mad

A Royal Bush

Buckingham Palace. Pretty huh?

Barclays Bikes have been Jubileed up.

Spotted in Hyde Park

Even I have a Union Jack bell (thank you Bianca for this very useful Birthday present).

If you want to get involved here are a few bits and pieces you can buy:

Brompton Limited Edition Jubilee Bike. £1,200.

Vizavee High Viz Vest. £20 from Push Cycles.

Valve Caps. £3.99 from Halfords.

Kiddimoto Union Jack Helmet £24.95 from John Lewis.

Pink Flag Bike Saddle £14.99 from Halfords.

Blue Union Jack Print Leggings. £18 from River Island.

You'll get at least one whole summer's use out of this stuff what with the Olympics around the corner. If you are already sick of all the bunting and cupcakes you are going to be a barrel of fun. Get one of these at least:

"Bling it up" Jubilee Sick Bag. £3 from Lydia Leith. 

Birthday Breakfast in Brighton// London to Brighton Night Ride

It was my 30th Birthday so we took the tandem to Clapham Common, met up with a bunch of my friends and had a bit of a picnic. We pimped up our bikes with ALL the fairy lights, put on party hats and lit sparklers. Then we rode our bikes through the night for 60 miles to Brighton.

Team L2B30 aka No Clue Crew. This was the moment we realised we had all accidentally dressed in black. 

We played with fire.

Team Tandem.

Aaaaand GO.



At a rest stop, touching up my lipstick in my chrome helmet (modelled by Natalia)



We saw the sun rise.

We nailed EVERY hill.

Matthew did it on a fixie.

Others stretched, we nipped whisky.

No padded shorts but plenty of false eyelashes

We all crossed the finish line together where we were met with hugs and bubbles.

Then we went for a swim in the sea.

After our swim, we parked up our bikes and went to my friend's roof garden where we had breakfast, Birthday cake and a group nap.

Everyone was so nice encouraging us up the hills and complimenting our party hats. We didn't have the right gear, had done little to no training, yet none of us hurt the next day, not one bit. This is either because we are all magic, super fit, but most likely because we had an ice cold bath courtesy of the English Channel. The hardest part was getting the tandem back to London. At one point I thought I might have to ride it back on my own, picking up hitch hikers.

Thanks guys for the best Birthday ever. I  now feel very lonely riding around town on my own without a party hat clad convoy. For my 40th let's do it again. Then swim to France. Anyone? Hellooooo?

Here is our fundraising page for the British Heart Foundation.

No Wiser

I'm celebrating my Birthday by riding from London to Brighton through the night with the British Heart Foundation. I'll be piloting the tandem with my sister and I can promise that in my group you will not see a single pair of cycling shorts. If you are on the ride too please say hi, I'll have cake.

Not us

Brighton beach breakfast

Here is our Just Giving page. Thanks xxx

(Pictures from the BHF London to Brighton 2011 by me)

Playmobil Peeps// Bike Toys

I'm at the age where some of my friends have started having babies on purpose. Once they get past the annoying 'careful of the head' stage they get quite cool, or rather, they get cool toys. 

I always thought Playmobile was for kids who ate all their lego, but check out these guys, they are so cool.

Rocking this seasons latest trends in their tropical print and horizontal striped outfits.



Check out the retro motif tee.



http://www.playmobil.co.uk/



http://www.playmobil.co.uk/

I wish Santa still visited me.

http://www.playmobil.co.uk/

Things I wouldn't have seen today if I'd got the tube

He hates his hair cut (Ealing)

He's got mail (Acton)

He's one less car (Holland Park)

Here are some more less cars (Hyde Park)

Buckingham Palace getting ready for something.

Cog Jewellery

Cog Collection £149

I'm used to being surrounded by cogs and other pieces of bike. The cogs on this jewellery collection by Nina Lamb at Enelle London are marginally less grease covered. Inspired by the cogs on a clock these pieces are beautiful and feminine. Mechanical aesthetics at its best.

Bold Cog Long £125

Usually when I hear the words 'bike' and 'jewellery' I think of those hippiefied pieces made out of recycled bike parts. I've seen belts made of tires, necklaces made of bike chain, and a whole world of accessories made out of ex-greasy parts that they've attempted to soften by adding beads, pom poms, sequins, felt or ribbon. This collection of necklaces, earrings and bracelets has definitely exorcised those demons with it's 18 carat gold plated matt designs.

Bold Small Cog £60

Get this. You can get a limited 15% discount on Cog pieces at the moment with the discount code "Cog15" which just needs to be input at the checkout. It lasts until the end of this week.

www.enellelondon.com/collection

Tandem Time// Richmond Park

I went out raving Friday night and naturally I trashed my room while hurrying to get ready. There were clothes and shoes all over my floordrobe and glitter and make up everywhere. I definitely could not handle that on Saturday morning, especially as it such a bright sunny day. I decided to follow in King Charles I's plague escaping Stuart footsteps and head for Richmond park on the tandem.

"What a beautiful day" said my stoker sister as she thought of ways to attach a television to my back.

People like watching two laughing sisters trying to get a tandem through the gate/maze/ trap thing. Don't worry, we don't need help or anything. I think they should add this activity to office team building days out. FYI wheelie it through vertically. Obviously.

Look. She ACTUALLY has her feet up. No wonder those hills felt hard. I had to turn around and have a little word with her about how stokers are supposed to provide the power while the pilots navigate and smile. She said she didn't get that memo and thought tandeming was just a posh backie. Then I hit her. Only joking. If our parents find out they'll ban us from tandeming like they banned us from monopoly and swing ball. What?

Richmond Park is home to herds of red and fallow deer. We used zoom on the camera to get this shot as you shouldn't get too close to these wild animals. Keep this in mind, especially if you have a dog. You don't want to do a Fenton. We enjoyed looking at the nature.

Look. Another nature. I can just imagine Henry VIII and his crew hunting around and jousting each other. He should totally have ditched the horses and bought/ invented a bike. Might have prevented the whole obesity/ gout situation he had going on.

After a few laps of Richmond Park we rode back to Ealing and in true Henry VIII style had cake and coffee while people walked past and said "Look! A unicycle."

 The adventure continues.

You can hire a range of bicycles from Parkcycle, Richmond Park’s Cycling Centre located at the Roehampton Gate car park.

Also, we will be celebrating my Birthday by riding the Tandem from London to Brighton on the night of 26th May for the British Heart Foundation. If you want to buy me a present I already have everything and a tandem. You can sponsor us here. I'll keep you updated on our training/ outfit choices.  

Happy Birthday Keith Haring

Google just told me it was Keith Haring's Birthday.

 Keith Haring has been my favorite artist since I was tiny and my bikes had stabilisers. Which wasn't for very long as my Dad likes to boast. Thanks to his hard core training which involved getting me down the park rain or shine with military style drills and lots of "YES, OF COURSE I'M STILL HOLDING ON" lies, I was on two wheels aged 3. Anyway, I digress.

I love the energy Haring's prints portray. The simple bold figures are always in motion, dancing, shouting, rocking out and being generally awesome. From his street art, his album covers to his many collaborations his style is still instantly recognisable and an excellent portrayal of 80s street style. I especially love the way he manages to fill every scrap of space so the backgrounds are as chaotic and fun as the main article. Here are some things that Haring has made amazing:

 1987 Cinelli Laser. You'd need a pretty hefty lock on this bad boy.

Cinelli

Keith Haring x Tommy Hilfiger



Chairs by Vilac. For children, I'd sit carefully and not put my full weight down.

Nicholas Kirkwood. Umm, thigh high swarovski roller skates? Yeah, I'm going to need someone to buy these for me. I promise I'll wear them EVERYDAY.

I collect vintage Swatch watches (by 'collect' I mean 'I have two'). Swatch and Keith Haring, I NEED this in my collection/ Swatch trio.

 Check out this Keith Haring/ Adidas/ Jeremy Scott amazingness.

Happy Birthday Keith Haring: 4th May 1958 - 16th February 1990

www.keithharing.com 

Forever 21// Bicycle Top

Check out this amazing monochrome top from Forever 21 with the cutest little penny farthing design.

I think this would look perfect with a pair of denim cut offs. It even has a longer hemline at the back so the person riding behind you won't get flashes of the top of pants. Available in small, medium and large at the bargain price of £12.75

Forever 21