The Life-Sized City Blog

With all the travelling I've been doing lately comes the fact that I have borrowed a number of different bikes. I often consider taking my Mobiky folding bike with me, but since I invariably meet up with readers or like-minded people, there always seem to be bikes nearby. On my recent visit to New York, Johnathan was amazingly kind enough to let me borrow his Bullitt TNT cargo bike from Larry vs Harry . Johnathan flew to Copenhagen earlier this year just to buy one and ship it home. He provided me with not only the bike but two locks, a pump, a map of the city and a tool kit. Totally brilliant. He cycles in cycling shoes so the only hitch was that I had to adjust to pedalling on clipless pedals in my regular shoes, but that was no big deal. It was amazing how many conversations I struck up with people when I rode around on the bike. I'm on the Manhattan Bridge, stopped to take some photos, and a couple of workers on the railway shouted at me to come over. They wanted to know a...

On a visit to Budapest last week I was taken on a tour of the oldest velodrome in Europe that is still in use. Millenáris in Budapest , from 1896. It was fantastic to hear the entire history of the place from the chap behind the bike above, Péter Tarapcsák. Indeed a storied velodrome. Kristof from KMSZ was my guide and interpreter. One interesting thing was that in the 1970's and 1980's, there were many different national teams who used the velodrome for training, up to the Olympics in Moscow '80, for example, but also other international competitions. Western nations had trouble getting visas for most Eastern Bloc countries, but not Hungary. As a result there were many times that Americans, Cubans, East Germans et al were gathered in one place at the height of the Cold War. The mood was festive and sport was prioritised over politics. The bike above is for racing behind motorbikes. Certain things were lost in translation in the storytelling, but Henry from Workcycles str...