Miles. Hours. Riding.

We never thought on to bring a cycle computer to even give us a rough idea of how many miles we did but it was definatley alot. We just kept on pedalling for hours on end. It wasn't that hard, Holland was as flat as a pancake and the cycle paths were all so smooth but after a few hours riding with a backpack on it would become uncomfortable. The weight would pin your arse into the saddle. Not once did any of us moan about the riding it would just mean we'd stop for a drink, some sort of cheese pastry or a lie down.

Riding

A few riding snaps

ADEQUATE RIDERS

Does this mean we're a gang? We got a posse? Are we a crew or krew? Nah, mates is fine. Adequate.

Good Times

First thing we all did when we got back was gather around a laptop and look back through the photos that had been snapped. The digital age means the memories are relived in an instant rather than waiting a week to get film developed. I think we somehow accumulated over 200 photos. Photos of friends can make you smile but you smile harder if you have associated memories of that time and I'm sure that is the case for us with any photos of this whole trip, be it; Andy rubbing his balls and arse with every cream possible, George riding the store on a shopping bike, Gabe's pure white hat and bum bag or attempted tourist landmark photos.

Art Gallery Bicycle Photograph

HAHA! more coming soon.....

Picnic

Life on the road.
A picnic of cheese, bread and beer at our own private beach on the banks of the Rhine.

Camp site. Night time. Morning.

We expected to be be sleeping rough a few nights on this trip but as it turned out we only had to do it once.
One night we got chased by the Police after Gabe jaywalked. When the Officer found out we had no place to stay he escorted us to all the towns hotels until we booked a room.
Then we worked out we could stay with friends of George; thanks Nina and Su hyan. When the weather turned bad we stayed with them for two nights.
There is something really nice about sleeping out under the stars, it's something I haven't done on a roadtrip for a few years now. By the time we found the forest we wanted to stay in it was getting towards 10pm and the light was fading fast. The lake we had planned to sleep by turned out to be a swamp around it's edges. We scoped out another site at the back of a cornfield and lay out our sleeping bags. Pure silence and the errie, clear, darkness of the sky. What Blairwitch type creature is lurking in the forest? It wasn't long before the mozzies began their attacks. We wrapped ourselves in everything we could and applied as much mozzie repellant as possible.
We awoke a few times to witness the moonlight create a swaying sea of whiteness on the cornfield.
The next morning we surveyed the damage of the mozzie attacks. George had been a feast for them. His face was a mass of bumps and swells. He described it as feeling like he'd stuck his face in aload of nettles. Someone else said it was because even the mozzies knew he was the fittest.

Bike Rack

Drink stop. Rack 'em up.

Self Portrait 2

If you go back a few posts to the last, 'Self Portrait' you can compare and contrast with this photo. There is something just not right about this photo. It's the bar ends, half way across Holland we had stopped at a market were Gabe bought them for 5 Euros. Bargain? They were binned when we arrived in Colonge.

Tour De Scouse 2 Alleycat

A sunny Saturday in Liverpool. For whatever reasons it wasn't the biggest turnout but that was the only disappointing thing.
Chicken had worked out a good course with a few twists in it; a sprint race in the middle of the checkpoints and a mandatory sweet shop stop. A really good race. Good work Chicken and crew.

RHINE

The Rhine is one of the most polluted rivers in Europe. George and Gabe add to the rivers pollution. A little while later we were on a ferry dodging the constant stream of industrial barges.

CHEESELAND

While the rest of the British tourists searched for the coffeeshops and hookers we're more than happy with a variety of cheesetwists.

WINDMILLS

Cyclepath, canal and windmills. We're in Holland 'nobhead.

Cage Football

We went to a bunch of art galleries and museums. Some good, some bad, some had girls with beautiful, dog shit eyes serving good coffee but none were as much fun as this one in Rotterdam.

George T.

Zip line bike mounting technique

EURO TUNNEL

We rode through quite a few tunnels in Holland, some of which were bike only and went on for miles. I don't know why but these are such a blast to ride, really fun, you just start cranking faster. When we were in Amsterdam city centre we entered an underpass that we thought had a cycle lane down the side. It was downhill and so fast, we were lovin' it. Thirty seconds later cars are honking at us and are seriously going fast through this CAR ONLY TUNNEL! No turning back, no room for error, just keep haulin' as fast as possible. We were all stoked when we emerged at the other end.

Adventure Today

We set off on Wednesday 8th July with pretty much only one thing sorted; we had to arrive at the We The People store in Cologne by 6:30 on Tuesday 14th. Armed with a map of Holland purchased from Oxfam on our way to the train station, Gabe's compass and a backpack each, we disembarked the ferry in Rotterdam and began pedalling.

Udderly Butterly

Yo! Who's stupid idea was this? We're riding fixed through Europe. 10 types of cream and nothing but a dream.

More photos coming soon....

MF Gold Teeth Mother Fucker

I was relaxing drinking a Coca Cola trying to decide how to kill my last four hours in New York. I'd locked my bike outside the shop and was sat in the sun 15 metres away round the corner on a bench.

Finished my Coke, wandered back to my bike and there's this little gnarled fellow taking the wheels off my bike. Of course he was very apologetic, "It's your lucky day man! you are LUCKY! Just after your rims man!" Offers me his hand to shake and smiles his gold-toothed smile. I'm still proud that I replied "I ain't shakin' hands with a bike thief." He tried to help me put my wheels back on, offering me his allen-keys. I flat out refused (his was a 6mm and my hubs are 1/4 inch of course). He was insistent, and trying so hard not to sound like a niive as fuck british guy I kept saying "Just get outa here, man".

Kraftwerk. Manchester Velodrome

The Godfathers of electronic music and avid cyclists played in the Manchester Velodrome. A dream venue for them, and, they used it to it's full potential. During, 'Tour De France' they had four of the British Olympic Track Team weave up and down on the track mirroring the wave like frequency graphics on the screen. For their first encore they brought on, 'The Robots' and then finished off with the audience putting on 3D glasses for the last 6 songs which were accompanied with incredible 3D images. A unique venue, a unique experience, a unique gig.

Steel and Flash Guns : Andrew Bush

Andrew Bush mounted a large format camera with a powerful flash in the back seat of his car. He used this to photograph cars and their drivers in the LA area for about a decade around the year 1990.

These photos make up the exhibition 'Vector Portraits' at the Yossi Milo Gallery in New York. This show blew my mind.