Monday, September 30, 2013

Thursday, September 12, 2013

Behind the Wheel

















This weekend I shall mostly be behind the wheel of a 1968 Porsche 911 in Nortfolkshire. Let's hope the steering wheel has wooden trimmings and all! :-)

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Way Out West / Tai Oh




















And to round the week off, I hit the most westerly point of Lantau with a monster Saturday Tai Oh ride in the sizzling heat. Cue pseudo hipster photo opportunity of bike in front of graffiti. Ah sh*t, no- graffiti would be too counter culture for Hong Kong, so I have to make do with children's murals. Not so hipster after all.

Way Out West / To The Tip




















With the XCR on the MTR, a mid week hit out to the most Westerly point of Kowloon is indeed possible. Great to still be discovering new roads after all this time. Take me to the tip... I mean the waste recycling facility!

Bamboo

















As good as Asian House in Admiralty will ever look.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

Arno Kilo
















Aron gets his suffer face on during last week's track training session. I'm ashamed to admit that I was so hungover I wasn't capable of leaving my flat with a track bike, let alone making it to Whitehead to ride a kilo. Curse you strawberry daiquiris. Shame on you champagne. Never any more white wine. Recinde rum & red wine. Go away G&T. You get the picture...

Sagrada






Gaudi meets Generation Y.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/gallery/2013/sep/02/skywalkers-on-edge-in-pictures#/?picture=416343427&index=6

Bauge

















Cheese munching surrender monkeys produce another nice track bike shocker.

http://prollyisnotprobably.com/2013/08/eurobike-2013-uber-gallery-02/#27

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Unbuilt Wren
















Quasi laptop presenting / faux research aside, I've been quite enjoying the BBC series on 'Unbuilt Britain', available on cheeky VPN for another day or two? Of particular note was the man Mr Chris Wren's Masterplan after the great fire of London. The BBC compared it to Robert Bruce's Glasgow, and whilst the comparison is interesting and valid, a point the BBC missed was that Bruce, like Corbusier in Paris, was essentially provocative in his radicalism. Of course Bruce & Corb both knew that they were never going to be allowed to knock down the key historical monuments in their respective cities, but by suggesting so they caused a stir and added credence to their campaigns.

The context of Wren was quite different- in 1666 there existed a genuine opportunity to radically improve London's streetscape & infrastructure. Any monuments were destroyed in the fire and essentially it was only British short termist parochialism that prevented this plan materialising. And so London lives on with it's Medieval haphazard planning. Yes, it has its moments, but if you ever want to get anywhere it can't half be annoying.

http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/OnlineWorkshops/UrbanAdventures/01Wren.aspx#.UiXsFmSSD0A