Wednesday, Halfway to the Weekend...

Hello everybody, another Wednesday. Ive been surfing quite a bit lately devoting lots of time to Curbly and Ive kinda gotten trapped in a reverse sleeping pattern again. My day typically starts at about six o'clock when I get up and have breakfast and read the news through my RSS feeds before having a shower and going to the local convenience store to buy enough booze and munchies to last the night. I return from the shop and typically my special girl rises from her slumber before we both become one with our laptops and surf the night away trading links and discussing topics we have encountered on our adventures in cyberspace. I haven't been out been out and about on my wire donkey as much as I would like due to my schedule apart from a brief trip to a factory occupied by a number of Lyon art collectives last week to discuss other projects I am currently working on. My parents are visiting my adopted city this weekend to see me and to experience the Fete du Lumieres, I hope they like the food and drink and the laid back lifestyle as much as I do.



The only news I have that is bike related is this colourful group. My girl spotted it while surfing, it seems to be some sort of bike modification cult/gang in Japan. I love the Japanese for this kind of thing I don't understand what a culture has to experience for this sort of activity to flourish but its wonderful to see people express themselves all the same.

As I said before I planned to do more posts with an environmental slant in the future. Today I would like to impart the news that Boeing-Spectrolab have developed a solar panel that is 40.7% efficient which is a huge increase from the 12-18% efficiency rating found in modern panels currently available to the public. Hopefully companies will move away from silicon panels in favor of polymer based models in the future to reduce the environmental impact of the construction process.

The other day I came across this design company which produce a range of different item a few of which are bikes. I don't know if they are available for purchase but I like them anyway.

Until next time, bye bye.

RV

Side by Side...

My special girl saw this somewhere in the net and dropped it in my inbox yesterday. You gotta love these guys for their inventiveness and passion for the great outdoors and cycling. The camper bike rocks but does it have to be so wide? Actually I think its perfect without the bit he plans to add to the back theres plenty of room for your tent, cooler, tools and other bits and pieces back there. If you put a roof style thingy on it you could cycle in all weathers. The next two links are about a dude that has been spotted all up and down the west coast of the US riding a totally modified (pedal powered) compact living unit. He is the true modern nomad in my opinion. Of late he has been experiencing technical difficulties for which he is seeking assistance. We have been staying in of late mostly playing with the Curbly site and planning various other projects and trips and talking about the future. My girl has been expressing an interest lately in purchasing a tandem of some sort for next spring and summer, if she's serious I cant wait to hit the road and explore the Rhone Alps region by bike.

We Cant Write About Bikes Forever...

Well it I suppose since my journey to visit my girl is over I've been here four months now and something big happened. My special lady cleared some space in the closet for me so am I no longer living out of my backpack. This made me a little bit wet eye to be honest. We just returned from a design Biennale in St. Etienne and are now both loaded with energy and inspiration. We plan to morph this blog and broaden its scope to include issues we are both passionate about including sustainability in architecture and design and other environmental issues. The future is brighter, cleaner and has more possibilities than either of us know. But for anyone reading this just for the bikes do not worry they tie in nicely with our new direction so check out these wicked ultra old school chinese bikes I found somewhere on the net the other day. We spotted the bike in the picture above at the design show it is by Luc Simon but I can not find him anywhere on the net so no link I'm afraid.

Alcohol, Tobacco and Cycling...

Well winter is here the wind last night was proof enough although its been unusually warm for this time of year these past few days. I think any sort of long distance journey by bike can be ruled out at this stage but that does not mean the determined cyclist with the proper equipment cannot brave the elements and venture out onto the highways and byways for a few hours every once in a while. Personally I have been slacking of late, I don't have a job right now and so you would think I would have lots of spare time on my hands to go for the odd cycle but alas I have not. I really miss it actually and Im starting to feel it would be beneficial for me to make that extra effort and get up a little earlier just to get out for a few hours to clear my head and be free of the confines of this apartment. I just wish mon petit ami could join me. Ill start by suggesting that we get two of those public bicycles in the park and spend an hour or two cruising on a crisp winters morning some time soon:-)

Old School...

Check out these excellent Dutch style city bikes by Jorg and Olif. Beautiful, simple and probably less appealing to bike thieves.

Small Transport Solutions.

I have posted about N55 before but they have just added a new manual to their collection and I think this warrants mention on road vermin. Their new section is called Manual for Small Truck. Basically it is a very small truck built from polyethylene containers and power by a small electric motor. It should be borrowed by individuals who are not in possession of a car to transport small loads around their cities and afterwards returned to the collective. I love these guys...

Todays Tidbits...

Todays Roadvermin and his girl have joined the new design and DIY community known as Curbly. It is a site dedicated to design and innovation relating to the home and living and it aims to help connect people with similar interests in these fields in order to share ideas and solve problems. Heres the Wired Monkey Bites blurb on it. So far we have only posted a few pictures of some of our work and two short pieces regarding some designers I have recently discovered while surfing but it looks like an extremely promising community. One of the commenters included this link to a site that follows trend and ideas regarding alternative transport solutions. Goodnight good people of the net.

Bike Getaway

-RV's Girl
Listening to SomaFM

RV 's Mad At Me!

Why? Because I was messing around with him as he was making a sandwich.

This is how it started. I got some laughs at Salon.com's article today about the Sexiest Men Alive because aside from Stephen Colbert winning top placement, the letter's section were adding amazing male candidates including Keith Olbermann and Wayne Coyne. RV said, "______________________________________". So, I went over to sandwich-making RV and started harassing him and messed with his sandwich...what did I do?

Well, I picked up his butter knife and stabbed it a few times while flipping all of his cheese and lettuce all over the table and floor then consoling him by putting it all back in. He is so mad!

Hehe, that's what you get RV, you know what you said.


-RV's Girl

Tired Wednesday morning...

Ive been sort of off the road since ending my trip in August and since we have been continuing this weird boy/girl relationship with cycling on top blog by writing about our continuing story and also by posting on issues close to our hearts. Such as design, art and the environment all the while trying to tie this in with some bike stuff. It really is quite difficult to keep a blog alive (Not as much work as a relationship) but you do need to stick at it keep researching keep exploring never loose sight of whatever it was that made you start in the first place... Anyhow, todays tidbit is about a Swedish designer who creates furniture from old bike parts. Her name is Frida Ottemo Kallstrom and her site can be found here.

Robert Rauschenberg - Riding Bikes

Just a wonderful sculpture from the talented Robert Rauschenberg. RV and I thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit we saw at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and were inspired by Rauschenberg's creativity, humour and use of everyday materials and references.

Here is a little about the Artist (taken from Wikipedia) :

'Robert Rauschenberg (b. 1925) is a painter, sculptor, and graphic artist known for helping to redefine American art in the 1950s and '60s, providing an alternative to the then-dominant aesthetic of Abstract Expressionism. Rauschenberg realized his talent with drawing when he turned 22 in the Navy.'

'Born on October 22, 1925 in Port Arthur, Texas, as "Robert" Milton Ernest Rauschenberg, he studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and the Académie Julian in Paris France , before enrolling in 1948 at the legendary Black Mountain College in North Carolina. There his painting instructor was the renowned Bauhaus figure Josef Albers, whose rigid discipline and sense of method inspired Rauschenberg, as he once said, to do "exactly the reverse" of what Albers taught him.'

For more info : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Rauschenberg


-RV's Girl
Listening to Modest Mouse w/ Johnny Marr

The City of Lights & RV Bikes To A Rave

Well, it has been a while. I've been incognito on here for a couple of months and was hesitating to return.

I love the premise of this blog but I can't see myself constantly referring to cycling related info when a big part of this space represents RV and me figuring out this twist on our long distance relationship. At the same time I hate going on too much about the personal and feel that when we do have visitors, they'll be bored. I don't know. I suppose the best is just to be honest. Nonetheless, RV's Girl is back!

On a lighter note, we just came back from a second trip to " jolie" Paris. The experience was like living in a 2 part series of RV's first time in the City of Lights. The lucky bastard got a first glimpse of the many funky sidestreets and hidden treasures of the beautiful city while bypassing all the usual tourist crowds/joints thanks to yours truly (hey I had to learn after many years of living here!). We walked our butts off, one day reaching 10 hours of wandering the left to right banks, back and forth, back and forth, until I almost went into hysteria at being stuck in the bourgeois quarters of Madeleine and the Concorde. We saw a couple of gigs and ate in many great restaurants with never a good bottle of wine too far or a whisky too close. Finding a tiny place inside this giant metropolis is so special especially when you have someone to share it with.

But, I have to mention that we saw a full rack of Paris public bikes near the Bastille that was completely full. I automatically thought it was strange considering that here, you always see a public bike rack almost empty. Seeing so many cyclists in the Capital though made me wonder if they all just owned their bikes and had no need for free bikes or perhaps that tourists are just too damned scared of cycling in the crazy Parisian traffic! Point is, all cities should be on free bike programs, amongst other related changes taking place in using biodeisel for public transport AND making public transport planning/construction more reliable (Read=Dublin).

The other bike news I have for today is that after we came back from Paris Friday, we had planned to have a big night out Saturday to see a wicked DJ that we both admire. I felt very homesick though (meaning wanting to do nothing but write, goof around on my comp and stay in my pajamas) but felt if I didn't go, it would stop RV from going. In the end with some grumpy perseverance and a need for some time alone, I convinced RV to get his butt out into the city, all by himself to French-y his way through the city. He then surprised me by complying AND by taking his bike!! Yay Bikey was liberated from the confines of my dusty balcony and dead leaves! I really thought that was awesome and the only casualty wasn't his liver but his stolen pump (what loser would steal a bike pump at a rave??)! So there you go, RV biked to a big rave and back, how cool.

Well, It's now almost 9am and I haven't slept since last night so I better go. Back Soon, promise.


-RV's Girl
Listening to Eels