Big Day Out: Brooks Saddles and Vélobici...

A couple of weeks ago, me and The Boy had the pleasure of visiting the Brooks Saddle Factory! Thanks to the brilliant organisation by twitter friends @CraftieDutchie & @_Blixa_, the plan was to get together with some fellow twitter-cycling friends and have a tour around the plant, along with a cycle-stop or two for lunch and drinks.

It was a big day out for sure: a 06:30am meet with the lovely @thefixedfactor was arranged outside of the RFH, to load up our bikes into the van we'd hired with him. Although it was an insanely early start (setting off from East London at 05:20am), it was so worth it... just to see London bathed in those dusky hues...

...and of course having such clear roads was a treat.

A few hours later (and a few sleeps in the van for me), we arrived in Smethwick and met up with the rest of the cycling-crew:

From left to right: @offthelevel, @cycleslikeagirl, @evilgordon, @CraftyDutchie, @thefixedfactor, @_Blixa_, @grobelaar, @EdwardHealey - wonderful to put real faces & bikes to twitter handles after all this time!


Stepping into the factory was amazing: it's an intimate operation, with just under 50 people working the production line - all of whom are at different work stations but all knew one another. This isn't something that occurs often in a workplace, and was magical to see...

(Courtesy of @_Blixa_)

Steeped in tradition, there is an overwhelming sense of pride with each Saddle made by the Brooks team. I love every element of my Pashley, so it was very special to see where my B66s was made, and meeting people from the team who would have worked on it. 

Our two hours at Brooks was fascinating: meeting the workers & seeing how much effort goes into each piece and has made me appreciate my Saddle even more.

After a quick pub-stop, me, The Boy and @thefixedfactor I  headed off with @_blixa_, who had organised a meet-up and cycle through Market Bosworth with Chris Puttnam, one of the founders of Vélobici, and his friend Matthew. Another British company, Velobici make high-end cycling clothing and accessories - all of which are designed to be used for "cycling, socialising or working". This is something that strikes a chord with me when it comes to cycle-style, so it was a pleasure to meet Chris & discuss the ethos of his clothing!

Market Bosworth is a beautiful town to cycle though; so peaceful and picturesque...

I had a lot of fun cycling with the fellas, but as you can see, my Pashley isn't quite the calibre of speed machines they were on! There were also some false flats that caught me right out... it was quite an effort for me! My legs were certainly worked by the end of that ride - damn! 

A lovely and very generous surprise at the end of the ride was dinner at The Black Horse Restaurant, owned by Chris' brother Mike. Joined by Matthew's lovely wife & kids, we gathered in the bar for a very special preview of the upcoming new line from Vélobici (stunning!) and then sat down for 'Pie and Wine night'... oh my gosh, did I NEED this...

(Pie shot courtesy of Ian James)

This was the perfect ending to a wonderful day out on the bikes: A massive thank you goes to Chris for his immense generosity, thank you Brooks for having us and showing us the workings of your factory and a special thank you to @_blixa_ & @Craftydutchie for organising such a brilliant day! 

More photos from the day can be viewed here.

Many thanks to The Boy for photographic assistance again x

Cycle Style Video...

Still courtesy of F.Milovac on Vimeo.

With just over a month to go, the excitement for the release of Cycle Style is building up... and the promo video for the book is now online!

Meeting with Filip Milovac in December to do my bit for the shoot was an absolute blast, so seeing the finished product earlier this week was fantastic. Filip & Horst have done an amazing job with this, incorporating some of the portraits that will be included in Cycle Style.

Enjoy the video - and see if you can spot some familiar faces in there too...


Cycle Style from Filip Milovac on Vimeo.

Cycle Style - The Book...

Do you remember that Photo-Shoot that me and my Pashley took part in last Summer?

Well, it was for Horst A. Friedrichs third book, 'Cycle Style', which celebrates the brilliant and varied fashion in London's cycling scene. I'm very pleased to finally be able to tell you that I'm going to be in the book, along with featuring on the back cover too!

"Cycle Style" Book Cover courtesy of waterstones.com
Photo by Horst A.Friedrichs

Horst and his assistant Filip Milovac contacted to let me know the news, and to ask me to be in the promo-video for the book launch. I was over the moon to know I'd made it into 'Cycle Style', and was bouncing off the walls about the cover... that's something I never expected to happen.

I met up with Filip last month for the video shoot on Columbia Road. It was a gorgeous Friday afternoon in December - a bit chilly but very bright... perfect winter cycling weather! It also meant I could wrap up warm on the bike, and not be smothered in heavy & plain clothing... 

Photo by Filip Milovac* 

Scarf: See by Chloé

Leather Biker Jacket: Topshop

Black Jumper: M&S

Bag: Vintage Mulberry

Tweed Shorts: Mango

Big Ben Tights: Henry Holland

(I had to wear those tights - celebrating London's cycle style, right?)

Brogues: Topshop

The adorable Filip - photo thanks to a kind passer-by who clicked the button! 

I can't wait to see the finished video & of course the published book. It's been a wonderful experience and a fantastic project to be a part of... roll on March for the launch!

*Thank you to Filip for these shots of the day for the blog.

Review: The Handbag Hugger...

Even though we're well prepared for this Christmas, there are always some bits that need to be picked up closer to the day. For us it's some of the West-Indian elements of Christmas dinner by Mamma Vélo, and this year I was able to hop-out on the Pashley to pick them up for her. A ride to the Market to pick up the extra fruit and veg was planned, and this was a great opportunity to put the Handbag Hugger by CycleChic to a proper test.

Although the Handbag Hugger is designed to be attached to the front of your bike without the Basket, I   needed all the storage space I could get, and have no issue reaching for my bag - so the Wicker went back on, alongside the Hugger...

They both sat on the front of my Pashley with no problems. The Hugger attaches to the handlebar stem with two screws and bolts - a simple method which takes only minutes to do and with no mechanical skills necessary! The position of the attachment didn't interfere with the leather straps of the Basket, so no issues there at all.

My bag of choice on the shopping-cycle was my Mulberry Messenger. Its one of my favourite handbags, so I'm quite precious over it. The Hugger held it in place securely: with its spring loaded grip function, it didn't slip out when riding, and wasn't dislodged when I went over any bumps in the road.

Getting into my bag while it was in the Hugger wasn't a problem either - although it provides a secure grip, I could still get stuff out of it with ease while I was on the move.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the Handbag Hugger: it's easy to attach to my bike, secure & from an accessorising point of view, the Chrome goes really well with the Pashley! The other thing that impressed me about the Hugger is that the grip didn't leave any marks or scratches on my bag - this was another of my concerns with it, but I'm glad to report nothing of the sort happened.

The Handbag Hugger is available from Cyclechic.co.uk, and retails at £19.99.

Twirling in Tweed: The Rugby London Tweed Run...

Me, capturing the "Spirit" of the day...

What-ho Dames & Chaps! The Boy and I attended the Rugby London Tweed Run last Saturday - all of my last minute dashing around on Friday fell into place, so we were both more than ready for the day... phew! I'll give a quick run-down of my attire for the day - elements of which you'll see in more pictures:

Dress: Runaround Sue by Vivien of Holloway

Red Elastic Belt: Vivien of Holloway

Tweed Jacket: H&M

Pheasant Feather Brooch: Katherine Butler

Red-Seamed Stockings: Jonathan Astor

Heels: Aldo

Necklace: Dorothy Perkins

Hair Corsage: Made by me!

Rose Ring: H&M
Brown Leather Kelly Bag - Vintage

Pearl Earrings: TopShop

Nails: Thanks to O.P.I at Selfridges

(You may have noticed that the fabulous hat I bought for the day is not featured - I got my Twists re-done on the Wednesday & my hair was too big for the hat!) 

Once again, the Weather-Gods looked down on the event, as we were blessed with bright skies & crisp winter air for the day... if it had rained, I suspect there would have been a lot of damp Tweed cycling through London! Arriving at the meeting point, we were greeted with a sea of beautiful outfits and bicycles. Being in Covent Garden, there was even more of a tourist-attraction element to the day, with many people pulling out cameras and phones, snapping away. The Tweed-Runners make for a rather dashing display, so I'm sure the tourists must have enjoyed seeing us!

Ralph Lauren laid on breakfast for us all, which was a rather nice touch indeed. Men (who I'm sure were all models!) dressed in the Rugby RL colours were on hand to dish out savouries, cakes, teas & coffees to fuel us up for the ride. I must admit to being a bit too excited to eat my Muffin - there was so much going on around me, there was no room for an appetite to build up! 

After the official Tweed Run photo was taken on the steps of the Rugby Store, we had the chance to quickly catch-up with some familiar faces and meet other people taking part...

Tony and Victor, the stylish brothers  who I met last year, helping each other get ready

I loved her Brogues and bright Lipstick - sadly we didn't catch her name!

The 'Vintage News' team, looking spiffing while covering the event

The Dapper-Chaps of The Guvnors Assembly

Setting off, the route for the ride was great, taking in a few more of the tourist attractions of London. Making our way through Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square and past Buckingham Palace (where we certainly got a lot of tourist attention!), we arrived for our Tea Stop in Chelsea. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea were the sponsors of the Stop this year - they provided a wonderful spread, including some tasty little Cupcakes, and of course a nice drop of tea in China cups...

It's not Lady V unless she's drinking Tea...

It was also another chance to stop and have a good catch-up with friends on the ride with us too... and get some photos of them looking glamorous...

The Lovely Loughton Brothers John and Jim, who Piped-Up for the day

Kathryn King of BikemindedRBKC, looking like a Matinee Idol! I loved her vintage Fur Stole

With Kathryn, the gorgeous Jemma of "Help! My Chain Came Off" and the Dapper Mark Ames of the "i b i k e l o n d o n" blog

During the Tea Stop, I had the pleasure of meeting Fleur de Guerre, who is absolutely stunning and simply oozes elegance and grace!

Strike a pose ladies...

The kind of accessorising that I love - when your Pashley Matches your Outfit!

Fleur looked beautiful in her Ralph Lauren velvet jacket, H&M Blouse, Tarantula Clothing Capris & those lovely red leather gloves and tights! I must admit to having the nicest Hat-Envy...!

We finished the Tweed Run at the exclusive Caledonian Club in Belgravia. It was the ultimate luxury end to the day - an opulent members-only club, with some very expensive Whisky, Teas and live entertainment which was fantastic!

The shin-dig at the Caledonian also gave me the chance to finally meet one of the founders of the Tweed Run, Ted Young-Ing...

Another spectacular suit from Mr Tweed Run himself

After attending the last ride in April and having a blast, it was fantastic to say hello and have a chat with one of the forces behind such a fabulous event.

You can view more photos from the day on my Flickr Stream - again, a massive thank you to The Boy for being my brilliant Photographer for the day and for my blog!

It was a brilliant day from start to finish, and already I can't wait for the next one in April... is it crazy that I've already started thinking about my outfit for the day?! Pip-Pip!

Coffee | Cycle | Saturday: New Faces & New Places...

I've fallen in love with cycling early on crisp winter mornings... they are the perfect weather setting for the darker months: cool & fresh air in your lungs, bright skies and a sense of peace and quiet all around you. 

You get to take in a bit more of this crazy-busy city when it's quiet - like being able to stop and take shots like this of the ever changing London Skyline & not be disturbed! The slight chill in the air is also a great opportunity to layer-up... and who says you have to wear drab colours in the winter? Me and my chosen Cycle Wardrobe for the day certainly didn't agree with that - inject colours into a cold day!

Headscarf: Tie Rack

Knitted Cardigan: Topshop

V-Neck Jumper: M&S

"LadyVélo" Name Necklace - Tatty Devine

Handbag: Vintage Mulberry

Tweed Shorts: Zara

Tights: John Lewis

Brogues: Topshop

Me and The Boy were greeted with such conditions last weekend, as we headed out for a long overdue CoffeeCycleSaturday. Fellow caffeine fiend & friend Simon cycled in from Surbiton to meet us, and we were joined by a new member of CCS - the lovely Jo Halstead of Vélos and Vagabonds! 

With a new route to explore and a new Coffee and Cake stop to visit, we had a busy day of cycling ahead of us. Before meeting up in Prufrock Coffee, I needed to take an bit of an unusual detour - I had to stop in Soho to pick up a new phone...

After being contacted by Nokia a couple of weeks ago via the blog, I was invited to their London HQ to collect a Lumia 800 to use, review & keep... yes, that's right - VCG is getting a bit more tech-savvy! I ended up being filmed throughout the morning about my experience, so keep an eye out just in case I turn up on the Nokia website! Filming and phone-fun done, we met up with Simon and Jo, fuelled up on Prufrock goodness and then made our way out of the City.

Our new route for this CCC was along Hertford Union Canal - a pleasant stretch of waterway in Tower Hamlets. I put my hand up and admit that I'd never even walked along Union Canal before, so it was interesting to check it out via bike. We were not the only cyclists who had the same idea on a lovely Saturday though...

Fantastic as it was seeing other riders out and about along the stretch, it was also a maneuvering-mash up trying to cycle along it! I wouldn't rule out seeing it by bike again as it's beautiful, but an advance warning to any others reading this thinking about doing it: be prepared for a lot of human and two-wheeled traffic! Coming off the towpath, we arrived at Victoria Park - another place in London that I haven't explored before on the Pashley... and haven't been to since I was a child.

There was certainly plenty of space for us all to cycle together for this part of the day. The Park was beautiful - autumn leaves scattered around, more happy people on bikes & lots of cute dogs to be spotted (Jo is also a lover of Sausage Dogs, French Bulldogs and Pugs like me...) so that brought lots of smiles to our faces!

After a leisurely and enjoyable cycle around the green spaces, we'd built up a suitable thirst and an appetite - perfect timing to ride over to our Coffee & Cake Stop for the afternoon!

A new one for the CCS team and for VCG - allow me to introduce you to Zealand Road Coffee. Located near to Roman Road Market, this is one of the newest Coffee Houses in East London & already has a firm local following...

With a relaxed atmosphere, it's an ideal place for cyclists to stop of and refuel - good coffee, sandwiches and of course damned good cakes are important to me ...

... ZRC certainly gets the Lady Vélo & CoffeeCycleSaturday seal of approval!

It was a wonderful day of Cycling and absolutely delightful to meet Jo. Another CCS is being planned around another part of London. Lets hope the crisp weather remains this way :)  

A Sunday in Surbiton...

Before these dark evenings started drawing in and the temperature started to drop, me and The Boy met up with our friend Simon a few weeks ago for a CycleSunday afternoon ride around Surbiton. We'd been wanting to do this for ages as Surbiton is Simon's cycling-ground, and he sure knows the place! He planned out a wonderful tour of the area, including two of my favourite things - Coffee & Cakes... and an unexpected encounter with a famous resident of Bushy Park...

En route to Kingston we made two stops that were definitely reflective of our interests! 1st one was for The Boy. He needed to make a Rib-Stop on Brick Lane (he will explain this one on his Food Blog...), which allowed us to get a big-spicy breakfast. I muscled in on this pit stop, as the morning light was to lovely to ignore to get a photo of my Autumn-themed Cycle-Wardrobe for the day...

Head Scarf: Tie Rack

Earrings: Dorothy Perkins

Oak Leaves Wooden Necklace: Tatty Devine

Cable Knit Jumper: Forever 21

Drum Brooch: Tatty Devine

Shorts: Gap

Leather Boots: M&S

The second stop was one for me... our ride out of London would take us past the City Cycle Style exhibition in the Royal Exchange. Although I'd attended the celebratory drinks for the exhibition at the Grange Hotel a few weeks ago (all very posh indeed) I'd not actually seen it...

It was great to see the outdoor show in all its glory... and of course I had to get a cheesy photo in amongst those selected to be on display! Quick-stops done, we made our way to meet Simon for the leisurely 'Tour de Surbiton'.

Cycling along the Thames was beyond picturesque - the weather was fantastic, lots of people were sat along the river bank enjoying the day and the light glistening off the water was beautiful!

After a lovely ride along the water, it was time to feed the Coffee and Cake desire I always get from cycling! Our fuel-stop was Mada Deli - and when it came to cakes, it was more than a sweet treat...

Suitably fed & caffeinated, we got back on our bikes and headed to Hampton Court Palace Maze. I've done the Maze before - but there was no way I could possibly remember the lay-out of it.

Don't ask me how, but The Boy managed to work out the route to the middle of the Maze and back out again in one go! I think me and Simon are still a bit perplexed by this...

Anyway, back on our wheels and to Bushy Park we went. This was a new one for me - I'd never been there before and admit to being very excited at the promise of seeing Deer close-up in real life. Thing is, I didn't realise just how close-up my encounter with these creatures would be. We'd spotted what we assumed was a deceased Stag - his Antlers were standing tall above the blades of grass. Curiosity got the better of me, so as we all got off our bikes to investigate, I decided to walk a bit closer to check the poor thing out. The good news - he wasn't departed and just sleeping. The bad news - he was "The Beast of Bushy Park" and we'd just woken him up...

As captured by The Boy - the look on my face should explain the sheer levels of "Holy Sh*t!" thoughts going through my mind at this point!

This was the picture of the Stag-Daddy I got when he woke up, before slowly backing away from him. That saying about letting sleeping dogs lie? The same applies to these fellas too.

Thanks to not getting (deservedly) charged at by Mr Beast, the rest of the afternoon in Bushy Park went without incident, and some more Deer-Spotting happened as we made our way out of the beautiful area...

It truly was an amazing Cycle-Sunday, again reminding me there are so many beautiful things to be seen in the UK by Bike... happy cycling.