SERIOUSLY?

…I haven’t updated the blog since August???

I am in shock.

I have this blurry memory that pops up sometimes…my father is a very pragmatic man. As I grew older he would keep reminding me of how I would feel when I was certain age. Like a prophet of feelings. So when I was 6 or 7 he told me something like “enjoy being a child…as soon as you turn 20 time starts to fly, and you will remember this moment right now and you will think of what I told you and how it was true…” I’m not saying anything you don’t know already, dear reader. We have all felt this way at some point. We have seen a baby that at 15 is not a baby anymore (“but wait, weren’t you just learning to talk a few years ago?”). I feel a bit like that when I’m talking to someone born in the mid-nineties, I’m sorry but it feels pretty damn weird. Until you realise you are more or less the same way they are, with the exception they probably think you are old. Ha! Welcome to growing older. It’s hell.

Anyway, let’s not get dramatic. At least I’m not 30 yet. (I hope my older friends out there are not reading this.)

First of all, Happy New Year! Dear reader, I needed 2014 sooo bad. Although I have gone through some fantastic events in 2013, at the end I just grew tired of it, which is an odd feeling versus a date.

Whenever I stumble upon a blog that hasn’t been updated in a while I always imagine that person behind the computer experiencing a feeling that I will call the “bloggers blues”. The concept is not new, I actually stole it from this book that I love by the Japanese author Haruki Murakami. Just the title itself makes me want to read it again. So anyway, it does happen, that you are really into it and then one day you don’t find the same old satisfaction and then…time flies, and that is universal – except when you are under 20, thanks dad. So one day you wake up and realise you haven’t updated the blog in six months. Scary.

Some interesting changes in these past months, but I don’t want to be too revelatory. I’ll leave it as material for my next posts. Just one: I’m travelling back to Australia to capture the best bicycle porn available on the Southern hemisphere. And also, we will be having some exciting new type of content coming up.

And, to start the year with a good foot as we say in Spanish, a double ratio of bicycle porn. Hope you enjoy the photo, taken in the beautiful neighbourhood of Poble Sec in Barcelona.

Have a great week!

p.s. I found this on a blog about bicycles around the Internet and it made me really happy! We bloggers are so easily aroused…so thanks to whoever wrote it:)

 

 

Zeus stole my place

 

 

When you live in the ghetto, you follow the ghetto’s rules.

 

RULE NUMBER 1:

 

Don’t lock your bike in MY place.

 

 

Nah, just kidding (sort of). Actually, I am glad that whoever has stolen my parking spot has such a kitsch bike. It reminded me a little to my own. The bell, the mega cool handle bar, the colored tires (that is, until they stole my blue tire). If you look at the bikes right next to it, you can see that whenever my bike is not in motion it rests next to bicycle corpses (even worse: mountain bikes corpses). There’s even a note from the Ayuntamiento on one of them urging the owner to remove it from the parking space. Of course, he’s most likely in jail. I’m sure he will get it back once he’s back on the streets though!

Have a nice Sunday! I’m going to bake some oat super healthy cookies and keep on sweating. Before letting you go, here’s a photo of the anonymous note that some mysterious bike lover left on my frame the other day…

If it was you, identify yourself!

 

Bicycle Porn moves on

I am a person of strong beliefs. I believe that people that depend on coffee to utter their first word in the morning, “I can’t talk before I have my coffe” style, don’t deserve my respect (i.e. are losers). I have a tendency to ramble from 5 until 9 am in the morning, which I’m not saying is great either. But I do love mornings. I talk shit in the mornings. I feel like the day has just begun (which is true really) and anything is possible. As the day goes on, my energy fades away. Until 7pm or so when it restarts, then by 11pm I need to sleep. I am a simple woman.

So, one of my personal beliefs had to do with change. Turning 30 is a major change. Not a cool one. But not a terrible one either. LIke, you are thirty, yes, but you are still young to everyone above 40 which is still the majority of the population. I am trying to come up with other advantages but can’t find any right now.

Well, I always believed that hitting the big 0 would mean two things:

1) I was not young anymore and since beauty fades with age, I would need to rely on eccentricity to get noticed (note: currently, as far as I know, I rely exclusively on my brain to get noticed). Thirty meant to me that I would get a “radical” haircut. I am very cautious with hair, so I would probably cut it to the ear length.

2) Sharing flat when you are 30 is not regarded as “fun” and “adventurous”. It means you haven’t grown up and your mum is still cooking for you and your freezer is full of her plastic containers with her food. Or that you eat your pasta with beetroot – just that, seriously. Seen it with my own eyes. Worst thing is I still ate my flatmate’s disgusting combination as snack when she wasn’t looking. Shame shame shame –  because you haven’t learned to use the stove on the first 30 years of your existence. Therefor I had decided a few years back that by 30 years old, I would have my own apartment.

Most of the times, things don’t work out the way we plan. And these are the news! I got my own place in the heart of Barcelona’s one and only ghetto, El Raval. I live on a fourth floor with no elevator, this means that Lightening spends her nights alone on the streets. Everyone that knows me a little, asked me the same question. “Where is your bicycle sleeping?”. Their main concern while I was going through the mental distress and chaos of becoming independent, was my bicycle.

Which is nice, I guess.

So far, it’s still there, with 2 locks now.

The bicycle above, was spotted in Raval. Just in front this very, very, hipsterish place called “Satan’s coffee corner” where I get my fortnightly coffee (obviously not daily, you know why now). Ran by a very nice dude who appreciates words like “dabuten”. This tells you a lot.

I have a lot of beautiful bicycles in the pantry!!! They will be published soon.

In the meantime…have a beautiful, sweaty summer :-)

Sunday goodies

My beautiful friend J. had to sell her bicycle when she relocated from London to Barcelona. It will be missed…

Hacking Bicycleporn

So I was trying to move this website to a new domain. I was typing as fast as I could to soak in the “hacker attitude” but sadly in this case I couldn’t even manage retrieve my godaddy account. I deleted all the spamming emails (including the important ones). Every time I pretend I know what I’m doing with a computer I think of a movie I watched once where this girl basically had access to the main character’s computer. I thought it was just “a movie” (as in science fiction). But, apparently  it’s not. You can actually do that.

Fear not. That was a long time ago. I learned now. My intention is very humble in fact. I plan to move this website to http://www.bicycleporn.me. Once the people behind goddady approve my application to get the domain back (couldn’t remember my username/email/password) I will see if I manage. Despite my lack of experience, I am confident.

Even though I have not written much these days, my personal bicycleporn photo-collection keeps growing. I am experiencing some overproduction I would say, so get ready to be overwhelmed with ramblings in the next weeks. That first pink bicycle is actually on a street that has my birthday as name (11th of June Street). Nice one huh? The second one is just perfection, look at the leather saddle and handlebar. The owner knew what he/she was doing. By the way, lots of girls in racing bicycles like mine in Barcelona lately! I’m not special anymore!! Well, I really admire those anonymous women. Whenever I see one, I want to stop and have a chat about riding cool bicycles but truth is, they never look back at me with my “chatty face” on the red lights…next time I will just say something dumb and wait for their reaction…

Compulsory Helmets in Spain – law making for dummies

 

Sad times for bicycle riders in Spain these days. Once again, it is being exposed the inability of those in power to create policies that will revert positively in us citizens. I don’t think you need to be particularly smart to see that, as opposed to cars, riding a bicycle is a clean and healthy option to move around a city.  We have been seriously neglected for many years in this country, by drivers and by policy makers. Bicycle lanes are non-existant or poorly designed to say the least. And now, instead of reverting this situation and motivating people to get on a bike, they draft a law that will make helmets mandatory in urban areas . There is no scientific evidence that supports that wearing a helmet will lower then number of injuries. Instead, evidence shows that making it compulsory actually discourages potential riders to use a bicycle. And, those regular users, will chose in some occasions to stop using it. It really comes to the point of what I believe is a general occurrence in politics nowadays: people are not using their damn head. They create laws that are not rational. It scares me the amount of bullshit out there that has been created out of a belief or even a whim. If politicians used logics, they would educate drivers to make sure they respect cyclists. They would make sure people know to pay attention to bicycle lanes; and learn that you can’t just turn over one without checking for bicycles passing by. That a bicycle lane constantly interrupted with trash bins/bus stops/trees, is not a true bicycle lane.

Anyway, this rant is about disappointment. I will keep using my bicycle. And I will keep choosing whether I want to hear a helmet or not. I do not tolerate a loser who has never riden a bicycle to tell me what do when I’m on two wheels.

To illustrate all this, one of the pretties bicycles I’ve seen lately, that blue Peugeot that I found near Barceloneta with C. and V. And the always creative Cosmo cafe (my choice as hipster hot spot), that held a temporary exhibition with bicycle art…

BicyclePorn in India

Always traveling the world in search of fresh and exotic bicycle porn, I ended up in India a few weeks ago.  It can be pretty intense to walk on the street in cities like Jodhpur, in the state of Rajasthan. The road and side-walk become one, where cows, cars, rickshaws, motorcycles, cyclists and pedestrians (including travelers freaking out) share the same space. Obviously you need to stop every 5 seconds because there’s no space for all. And cows have top priority, not you, of course. As elsewhere, bicycles are a cheap way to move around, but unfortunately I felt like pollution would be a challenge in some places. I also heard about some really good guided tours on bicycles in Delhi which promised to be fun and dangerous. Unfortunately I had no time on this trip. It’s on my list to do when I am next in India though. If there is one conclusion to the whole adventure is that I will be back, this time for longer.

A New Bicycle Porn Year

Bicycles in love.

First time I can say I ate bicycles for lunch.

 

Let’s begin this year by sharing some loove (like that, loooooooooove) like those two fine bicycles above are doing on the streets of London. They belong to my beautiful friend J.E. and her boyfriend (also beautiful I’m told), J.

My second weekend of this new year has been sort of sweet and sour. Sweet because I got to dance a lot and specially because I  was lucky enough to have some of my closest friends around a table to share a spinach lasagna I cooked (they said it was good but honestly speaking I would tag it as mediocre). We ended up eating, laughing and talking for almost five hours, then I had a nap and woke up at midnight, just in time to get dressed and meet my friends A. and L. who were sadly leaving on new adventures. A. is a journalist who is going moving to Brazil and L. is off to Oslo to start a new life surrounded by blondes. It’s a matter of tastes yeah.

Since my last entry, my bicycle has been doing pretty good. In fact I haven’t used the Metro, or any form of public transport, since I came back from the holidays. And thanks to the new bell I don’t need to be yelling at innocent (in reality I hate them all who get on my way) passersby which makes the whole thing a little less stressful. Barcelona is not flat. The north of the city can actually have a dramatic slope that’s why I am excited to say that I went the farthest up north I have ever been, I obviously got there sweating  despite the cold but I was proud I made it.

Looking at my 2013 To Do List (its vital importance for one’s life deserves the use of capital letters) I foresee a pretty busy year. For starters, as an ordinary mortal I joined a gym right after Christmas. And I am embarassed to admit it (less embarassed that I was the other day at funky dance class – will certainly don’t put myself through that again. Ever.) because is such an ordinary thing to do, join a gym at the start of the year. But anyways, so far I have been going quite a bit and I hope to become super strong in a few months so I can go even higher up north next time…

I wish for you an amazing year on wheels!! Happy 2013:-)

 

Bicycle Memorabilia

I thought Foffa was the weird name that my friend M. gave to his marvelous bicycle (see first photo). It ends up it’s actually a beautiful bicycle maker based in London. He assured me that he’s totally paranoid that his bike will get stolen. I understand. After the wheel episode I am even more anxious. Well actually not so much anymore, because I bought some sort of wheel block so nobody can remove them from their axis but me. Muahhahahah get that bastards.

Right below Foffa the bicycle, a snap I took back in May in El Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona. The Primavera Sound Festival takes place there every year, and when I arrived I was glad to see that my bicycle would be surrounded by an orgy of bicycles to keep it company.

Lastly, I wanted to show you dear readers the ingenious invention from my friend C. to keep his bicycle in his room while saving space. A few notes about this funny decorative while practical object: First of all, he made it from scratch, even the design in the wood it’s original (or so he says…). Second, I think he lives in a fifth floor which means he brings up his bicycle everyday (well not anymore since he lives in Berlin and it’s probably too cold to ride already). Lastly, I think he won’t open his window for a while.

Have a nice weekend!!

…and Winter!

So here’s the surprise: a scary bicycle bell!

arrrrrgghghghghghghggghhg

These days we are having guests at home, so I left my bicycle locked outside. I shouldn’t have been surprised as I left my apartment to see that some motherfucker had stolen the front wheel. For the second time! You know, I’m usually quite positive, I don’t think people are evil per se except in very rare occasions but when things like this happen I really can’t help but come to the conclusion that out there, there are people that are rotten inside. People that have no education, no manners whatsoever. Because…c’mon! What if I had to go to hospital or I had an important meeting to attend and I relied on my bike. I actually do rely on it! Well anyway, there’s no point in over-thinking the event too much. I just went and replaced it. And bought myself a cute bike key chain, and had a laugh with the guys at the store. No big deal. Just 130 bucks spent of wheels!!

So, moving on…my life is a little more exciting on the road thanks to that bell. I love seeing people jumping when I use it hysterically. Altough to be honest it’s not as effective as I envisioned (my idea was people looking at me ashamed to be on my way and apologizing repeatedly while I said something like “You are fine. But don’t do it again” looking like a good King – wild imagination huh), people in this city are absolutely into their own thoughts/music and most of the times don’t even realize it’s them I am using the bell for. Fools: step out of the bike lane.

And now that the cold weather is finally upon us, it’s time for a Winter rider outfit! Hence the photo, taken by my fellow rider and friend, V.
Hope you have an amazing weekend! I will work like mad but I will have one:)