bikes and things

Eugh. Could they have made this any worse?

Battersea Power Station redesign unveiled – Architecture news from the architects’ favourite weekly newspaper – Building Design: “”

(Via .)

From a day out to Oxford, mainly around Paddington Station. Always a good excuse to try and take a few photos.

View over the adjacent stairs on the way to catch the train.

I cycled past this scene this morning on my way to work. Horrific to see and my thoughts are with the girl and her family. 

Breaking News: Cyclist Run Over by Lorry in Peckham – Londonist: London News, Food, Arts & Events.

A nice little clip of the pump track from Graham. Don’t remember the freewheels being that noisy but it’s all you can hear in the clip.

Looks easier than it is.

Back at the end of 2008 I made a list of some of the things I wanted to ride in 2009. One of which was to ride a pump track.

A pump track is kind of like a mini 4x track which returns on itself in a loop. The idea is to keep speed and avoid pedalling over the obstacles and to perfect your technique until the whole track is dialled. It also helps to stay off the brakes to keep the speed up.

David heading in to the berm.

Dom has been building a secret spot since he took some time off work. Fortunately there’s plenty of free dirt nearby and is only a short walk from his house. I fancied a bit of a break from study so headed down there yesterday with Matt and Graham.

First few goes were great fun but it takes a while to get in to it. The XC knobbly tyres I had on made hard work of it all but by the end of the day I was starting to get the hang of it.

Graham hanging out in the berm.

Of course this was the perfect opportunity to take some pictures! I ended up taking the full camera bag just to play around. I ended up needing the flash in the woods as there was just not enough light to illuminate their faces. I popped a single flash in to most of the pics and also used the umbrella to diffuse the light a bit.

Matt over the first roller and heading towards the double.

Matt popping out of the berm on to the rollers.

So after a long day of ‘pumping’ all that was left to do was repair the berms and rollers and then do an obligatory group shot!

Group shot from a tree.

The following morning things feel pretty sore. It’s amazing how much it works your upper body and also how much you have to pump with your legs. The mosquitos in the woods are evil too!

We’ll be back though. Full set of pictures here.

Sometimes the internet really is a thing of joy. Check out the comments on the article below. Via Mr Smith. 

Marksman called in to kill Kingston’s pigeons (From Surrey Comet).

Day 144 of 365, originally uploaded by Andy*Matthews.

Not had much practice at taking riding shots recently but was reasonably pleased with this one from last weekend. Manual focus and exposure and trying to get back into panning. Vaughan obliged by riding it “just one more time”.