Wheels stolen tonight

Please keep an eye otu for these blue phil woods nicked tonight from outside the prince george e8….

Playing polo with Hungarian Counts

Jack of the wonderful bike show sent me the passage below the other day. I think it quite aptly captures the mood of polo today….

[The year is 1933 and Leigh Fermor is an eighteen year old, walking across Europe. He is staying with some Hungarian nobility in a big house near the border with Slovakia]

“Great wings formed a courtyard and, from a terrace leading to a ceremonial door, branching and balustraded steps descended in a sweep. As I was crossing this place d’armes, several people were coming down the steps, and one of them was Count Józsi. Forewarned by Lászlo, he spotted me at once. He waved a greeting and cried, “You are just what we need! Come along!” I followed him and the others across the yard to a shed. “Have you ever played bike-polo?” he asked, catching me by the elbow. I had played a version of it at school with walking sticks and a tennis-ball on the hard tennis-courts; it was thought rather disreputable. But here they had real polo-sticks cut down to the right size and a proper polo ball and the shed was full of battered but sturdy machines. Józsi was my captain, and a famous player of the real game called Bethlen had the rival team; two other guests and footmen and a groom were the rest of the players. The game was quick, reckless and full of collisions, but there was nothing to match the joy of hitting the ball properly: it made a loud smack and gave one a tempting glimmer of what the real thing might be like. I couldn’t make out why all the shins weren’t barked to the bone; nor why, as one of the goals backed on the house, none of the windows were broken. The other side won but we scored four goals, and when the iron Maltese Cats were back in their stands, we limped back to the steps, where Countess Denise and her sister Cecile and some others had been leaning on the balustrade like ladies gazing down into the lists.”

(Patrick Leigh Fermour’s ‘Between the Woods and the Water’)

Incidentally, they are still playing polo in Hungary:
I thought I had a website for them at some point but can’t find it, check out this instead http://alleycat.hu

Polo Bike Gallery #2

You read this blog!

I didn’t really expect you too when it started but the stats say around 200 people a week stop by. Today from the London Roller Girls, Facebook, Flickr and Wikipedia. Thats nice to know.

What you (and I) missed at Gloria’s last night…

This is what the FGL people put on for everyone’s pleasure…

Slamm’s Flickr

The Architect’s Photobucket

Tonight!

As if you haven’t done enough bike socialising already this week…

Toyota <3 bike polo

Or something.

Heel Wheel Fasion Show

This is also tomorrow, there was a flyer but I cant find it, so there’s the press release below. Basically Columbia Road E2, in the evening….

Wheels & Heels: The New Season’s Accessories

Columbia Road boutiques to open for one exciting night of high fashion as the East London Flower Market transforms into a catwalk for cycle style as part of London Fashion Week.

On Thursday, 14 February at 6pm, local independent talent and established designers will shine a new light on cycle fashion, with the designs on the catwalk just as at home on the high street as on a bike. Brands on show will include established talent such as Dashing Tweeds and Saville Row’s, Jan Cicmanec, alongside up and coming designers such as Smeear and Archies Gro Bags.

The show, which will feature tricks and bicycle ballet by the likes of Paddy Waters alongside glamorous models on beautiful bikes, choreographed by Robyn Simpson, promises to wow the expected crowd of around 2,000 people including London’s fashion pack.

Emily Fleuriot, Editor of Fashion Monitor says in response to the event:

‘There’s definitely a common misperception that you can’t be stylish and cycle. You can – but it’s a challenge. As one of fashion’s bicycle enthusiasts I welcome all pioneers of functional, style-conscious clothes, which mean I can cycle AND look the part, whether at a hot showbiz party or a business meeting.’

The event is the brain child of Hackney Council and Tower Hamlets Council who aim to achieve a greater uptake of cycling by women by demonstrating how cycling can influence a girl’s wardrobe in a positively un-lycra but completely runway fashion.

For further information about the designers and the event, please contact Amy Fleuriot, Cyclodelic, on 078 8293 9905 or info@cyclodelic.co.uk or Louisa Clarke, Hackney Council, on 020 8356 8189 or louisa.clarke@hackney.gov.uk 

Fixed Gear London T-shirt launch at Gloria’s, Brick Lane

If you like bikes and no gears and tshirts and east london you might like this….

Gloria’s Loves Fixedgearlondon!

14th Feb
7-9pm
@ Gloria’s – 6 Dray Walk, 91-95 Bricklane, London, E1 6QL

This exhibition (the first of it’s kind) features 9 London-based illustrators and photographers. Each have worked with Fixedgearlondon to produce a series of limited edition t-shirt’s which will be sold exclusively through Gloria’s. The t-shirt’s will be limited to 25 pieces per design. You can view all of the different t-shirt’s on the launch night, but you will only be able to buy one design per week depending on who the featured artist is on that particular week.

On the launch night 3 photographers will be showcasing a selection featuring Fixedgearlondon’s activity over the previous 6 month’s.

Also on show will be a selection of the types of bikes that Fixedgearlondon have been building and riding (including a new bike from Charge).

On the day of the launch 2 of the illustrators,(Word To Mother & Jacob) will be drawing live on the store front of Gloria’s.

Refreshments will be available, arrive early to avoid dissapointment!

Hope to see you there,
Andy & Odge
—
Gloria’s Tel: 020 77706222
www.fixedgearlondon.com

While you are at it, check out this clip from French TV shot in London a couple of months ago featuring some of the FGL people and more…

Polo Bike Gallery

Flickr.