Commute to Work - Barcelona Style

I was looking through the flickr archives today and came across this photo from Barcelona.  I think this was about the biggest concession to "commuter cycle gear" that I witnessed - certainly the most inventive.

So very Cycle Chic.

Cycle Chic Bloggers "Beach" Conference Barcelona

And here's how the Cycle Chic bloggers did beaches in Barcelona... conference you say?
Yep we were working, honest....

Lego Bike Blogger in Action!

We love Lego at Cycle Chic and of course Felix (age 4) is a big fan.  Apparently this is what he thought mummy was up to in Barcelona.

Strangely, he was not far wrong.....

Cycle Chic Bloggers Conference Barcelona - Part 3

I took close to 2000 photographs during my five days in Barcelona - yes I know, EDIT EDIT EDIT so I'm hoping you'll forgive me a little indulgent blogging.

Here's some citizen cyclists just going about their daily business.  The thing I noticed the most was the way bicycles moved about the streetscape - traversing between roads, footpaths and cycle ways easily and without fuss.  Bicycles, pedestrians, cars and scooters slowly moving as one through their city.

Such lessons to be learnt here about sharing and manners and etiquette.... and the fine art of slowing things down.

   

   

Cycle Chic Bloggers Conference Barcelona - Part 2

So Friday saw us all up at the crack of dawn, yep ok, 7.00am after a night of sangria felt like the crack of dawn on the slowly undulating yacht I was lucky enough to be staying on.

Our first official business as guest bloggers in Barcelona was to photograph the city's cyclists at a Cycle Chic Breakfast organised by BACC, the Bicicleta Club de Catalunya.  Held to celebrate Bike Week in Barcelona, free breakfasts were given to riders along with some well-deserved red carpet treatment. People in Barcelona really know how to dress and judging the chicest rider was a tough but pleasurable exercise.

We took thousands of photographs between us over 3 venues through the city and then there was Paulette. Just brilliant.  Hand painted bike and all.  She is now the proud owner of a new Hood Bicycle and a rain coat from Italian brand Abici.

Raul and Greta were obvious choices for the most fun category and won a selection of bicycle accessories from cool Barcelona brand Ramonas and a rain coat from Bordeaux brand Nooc.

Such a fun day, there were prizes for the runners up too.  

I was interviewed by Spanish newspaper El Pais who featured the event in this article and this blogpost and TV1 Espana shot a film of the breakfast for morning tv.  A more Almodovarian experience I have not had!

More tomorrow.....

Cycle Chic Bloggers Conference Barcelona - Part 1

It's hard to imagine that this time last week I was in Barcelona hanging out with my fellow Cycle Chic bloggers, sharing stories, partying and enjoying unfettered bicycle freedom of the kind we're so unused to in Australia.

[above photos Mikael Colville-Andersen]

It really is another world away. Barcelona's bicycle renaissance is recent, apparently it was very different four years ago though riding through the city now it's hard to imagine.

There are bike lanes on seemingly endless straight streets, shared bike/pedestrian paths through leafy boulevards and narrow winding streets jam packed with cars, scooters and buses and yet everywhere there is a wonderful sense of co-existance.

 

Brilliant.  I'm a nervous road user in Sydney when I brave them at all yet here it took me minutes to feel completely at ease and at home. The pace is wicked like all European cities, loud, bustling, jostling, frenetic and yet there pervades an innate awareness between road/path users that surprised me. 

Taxi drivers pause and slow down to let you pass, darting a smile at you as they drag on a cigarette. Pedestrians, local and foreign alike, apologise if they stumble on to the bike path by mistake and jokes are shared with a smile.  Even navigating the huge intersections and plaças is fun.  Perhaps I was so happy to just be there that I didn't notice any bad will, I'm sure it exists, but perhaps too a happy disposition begets one? 

It's a way of acting that in Australia we forget all too often with our "combative" transport user mentality.

So ride I did.  Thanks to our friends Jamie and Vanessa at CitiBici I had the pleasure of borrowing a Creme HolyMoly bicycle for the whole stay.  Nice ride, lighter than my old Velorbis, 3 speed, pearly white, felt like the perfect Summer beach bike.  The old coaster brake took me a bit of getting used to but hey, no muy importante.

Thanks guys x

[photograph David Phu/Vancouver Cycle Chic]

So over the weekend we were 14 of us in all (plus assorted friends and lovers) from Copenhagen, Dublin, Montreal, Vancouver, Budapest, Bordeaux, Paris, Graz, Lisbon and Rio de Janeiro and the rest of the gang rode a mix of borrowed Bromptons, hire bikes and their own, flown in for the trip.  A better bunch of bike bloggers would be hard to find and despite the obvious attraction and fabulousness of hanging out with like-minded camera-wielding bike bloggers, we did work - more on that tomorrow.....

Global Cycle Chic - Barcelona - the Destination!

By the time this gets published I'll be in Barcelona.  Hard to imagine I'll be trading cold wet Sydney for the beach at Barceloneta (below) but I'm ready!

This is the first Cycle Chic Bloggers Conference and bloggers from 13 or more of the official global blogs will be spending 4 days together networking, riding, sharing our stories and yep I'm guessing there will be a little fiesta or two.

I'll be blogging from the road of course and you can also follow us on twitter #cyclechicbcn2011 for all the Cycle Chic fun Barcelona stylee!

[photographs courtesy Barcelona Cycle Chic]

Sydney Cycle Chic Does Barcelona!

Well, I can't think of a better way to celebrate our one year anniversary than by spending it with my global Cycle Chic family in Spain, in summer.  From Bondi to Barcelona in one year, just brilliant.

So we'll be taking Sydney Cycle Chic on the road in June to meet up with some of the bloggers from the other official sites.  There'll be a conference, some blogging, some riding, a photo shoot or two and a whole lot of chic.   Can't wait to share it with you.

Viva Barcelona Baby!