Just some pictures ...

... from the so-called World Naked Bike Ride in Vienna. Well, the police asked people to put their clothes back on right from the start and several times afterwards. Many people weren't naked or even dressed lightly. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great -- pretty cold, cloudy and later on even raining (and it still is). Anyhow, here are some pictures for you to get a taste of the atmosphere ;-). By the way, there were about 600 people joining the ride.

Filigree, who I briefly met at the Schwarzenbergplatz, has pictures of some truly Lovely Bicycles and cyclists on her blog too (and also here). There are also plenty on the Critical Mass Austria website.

Nude cycling for a better world

It's this time of the year again. It's time for the Naked Bike Ride in Vienna:

time: Friday, 19th of June 2009, 5pm
place: Schwarzenbergplatz at the fountain (Hochstrahlbrunnen)
for more information visit the website of Critical Mass Austria

Be there or be square! It only takes place in Austria once a year and it's neither necessary to be naked nor to own a bike. The motto is "Bare as you dare", everybody is welcome. Just make sure you get hold of a Citybike and bring your swimming gear (end point is the Danube).

The Naked Bike Rides are a worldwide event, so you probably also have the opportunity to take part in such a ride close to your place if not in Vienna. Read more on World Naked Bike Ride (WNBR) or watch this short movie (a longer version is available on the homepage).

Well, maybe you're a little skeptical about the whole thing. When I got my first flyer I thought "Well, good intention, but I'm not going to cycle through town naked with a bunch of lunatics". The good intentions for me were the fact that people will pay attention to cyclists, at least once a year. Being naked should also symbolize that cyclists are very vulnerable road users. I guess one could compare it to Naked Fur Protests, except that cycling is more fun.

It was only later that I found out about Critical Mass altogether and became a more or less regular rider. In June it was just natural to take part in the Naked Bike Ride. Well, I wasn't completely naked last year. I wore a bikini and gave away flyers somebody had printed. For this week's ride I thought about some bodypainting and maybe cycling topless, but haven't decided yet. Depends on the weather and my mood ;-).

Pictures from the World Naked Bike Ride in Vienna, June 2008

Subversive fair in Linz

Linz is the European capital of culture 2009, and last weekend a subversive fair (Subversivmesse) took place in the harbor.
Our friends from Vienna's bike kitchen had a stand there, and also had taken their workshop with them to repair, pimp and up-cycle bicycles. My friend Daniela and me joined on Saturday to construct a chopper bike from some old bikes. Special thanks to Max and Oskar from bike kitchen for their support and next time I'll take the chance to build a tall-bike!


On Sunday afternoon some bike competitions took place at the Danube. Sadly I missed bike bungee but was there for tall-bike jousting and bike jump.


I had a lot of fun. Hope you enjoy these pictures!

Weird bikes at the bike festival

On Saturday I rode to the 10th bike festival with a friend. It was a lovely sunny and warm day and it was absolutely packed! We got a lot of information about cycling in Vienna (like bike maps and one-way ponchos for free), trips to Lower and Upper Austria, the Neusiedler Lake, Slovakia etc., got our bikes registered by the police, saw some new bikes (e.g. cool e-bikes) as well as second-hand bikes (unfortunately they didn't really have a good catch in my size), watched parts of the Vienna Air King contest (an international dirt jump contest), bought bicycle-buttons of the great Motmot Shop and could try out some really weird bikes: tall bikes, penny-farthing bikes (high wheeler), swing bikes, fixies that are used to play bike polo and some other constructions that I can't even name.

Here are some impressions and us on some of these cool bikes. I can assure you that it was a lot of fun :-). It felt a bit strange to cycle back home on my "normal" bike though..

Handlebar is at the wrong position	In the beginning I didn't figure out how to ride the swing bike, but in the end it somehow worked :-).	Same problem with the tall bike which was even taller than me -- but once I got on it (without anybody else's help!), it was just awesome!
A bike with two gears: 1st -- pedaling forwards, 2nd -- pedaling backwards. Got it?!	Cheap second-hand bikes	Old bike with old bell and old front brake
Actually a bike for three	Amazing jumps	Although I don't want an e-bike, they might be useful to others.

Do bicycles really die?

On Saturday Maff and I went to a party of our friends in Linz. Currently they are collecting old and broken bicycles to build some tall bikes. They get the bicycles from scrapyards and such for free. Some of them are still in good condition, sometimes even only have a flat tire as far as I could see that. It's sad that people throw such bikes away.. But well, I'm actually quite happy this time. Usually I don't have a bicycle in Linz. Sometimes I bring mine on the train, but in the new "railjet" train sets bicycle transport was cancelled and I have less opportunities now (very future-oriented, aren't they?). So I saw this bicycle on Saturday in their basement:

Radiant "Touring Sport" (the pink ladies' bicycle in the front)

It doesn't work yet, but it's still in good shape. From what I have seen so far, it only has a flat tire, the rear brake doesn't work and the rear fender is broken. The lights are also demolished. I don't know whether the gearshift is working. We will try to fix it this evening and see how far we get. Would be really nice to have a bicycle in Linz too. Even if it's just for a short time before they continue to use it for a tall bike..