City Cycling: Europe on two wheels
There are the domingueros, those who take their bicycles out of the patio of their building to take advantage of the city park on the day that city parks are used to the maximum; there are those who travel without setting foot on the ground and leave everything to go around the world on two wheels; and then the middle term, those who use the bicycle daily . Why not take it out when you go on a trip too?
This is the thought of ** Rapha **, a British clothing line for cyclists that does not put an end to textiles, but goes beyond fashion on wheels to propose routes, make reports, interviews... for cyclists more fans. This is how they conceived, together with the publisher Thames & Hudson, the creation of easily portable tourist guides for European urbanites with a key component: neither metro nor tourist bus, PEDELEA . Whatever type of cyclist you are, the guides adapt like a glove to your cycling expectations. Get on the saddle, hold on to the handlebars and take note:
GUIDES FOR ALL TYPES OF CYCLISTS
1. FOR ARTISTS The guides are not layouts of alleys with an ABC of the places you have to step on (no, that's what we're here for). Also added, illustrations . Each city has its character and therefore each guide, its illustrator. In the case of Barcelona, the illustrator is Judy Kaufmann, a Chilean resident in Barcelona and an urban cyclist: “ bikes are an object of desire, very versatile, colorful and can take different shapes depending on how you draw it . They have always been part of my work, I have drawn them both for personal projects and for projects such as the Rapha guide”. For her part, she proposes her favorite route: “go down Sant Joan street, go under the Arc de Triomf, cross the Parc de la Ciutadella and go down until you reach the sea”. Another to add to the list.
The neighborhood of Gracia cyclist
Montjuïc on two wheels
two. FOR ETHNOLOGISTS
Because a gesture here does not have to have the same meaning as in Berlin ( pure idiosyncrasy ), each booklet has its own indications of 'bike label' (including mania or warnings of the type “Berlin taxis drive unpredictably so... keep an eye on them”).
3. FOR LAZY
All guides include a full day itinerary by hours to explore the iconic and not so iconic parts of the city (it is usually a fairly affordable route, between 25 and 30 kilometers). In Copenhagen , for example, recommend us to end the day by passing by Forno to Legna ... “the best pizzeria in town; go back to Nørrebro, cross the bridge and sit with the locals, enjoy pizza and drink a beer while you watch the cyclists come and go through the busiest bicycle street in the world”.
a day by bike
Four. FOR MAPOPHILES
Maps, maps, and more maps, there's even a foldout city one! And, inside, zonal maps of each neighborhood with indications of all the places named in the text.
for mapophiles
5. FOR BIKE PROS
If all this seems to you to be a little too urbanite and a little less intrepid, pay attention. The guides include a section called Racing & Training where not only competitions organized in the city are proposed but also a slight x-ray of the bicycle culture this. In Milan, for example, there is no lack of a reference to the Giro di Lombardia nor to the Madonna del Ghisallo Cycling Museum.
For the 'pros' of the bike
6. FOR MARSHITCH
Notions of history are not lacking urban contextualization , how cities were traced throughout history, how they helped (or not) the use of bicycles and how the two-wheel business evolved (could the Bianchi brand be missing from the Milan guide?) .
Berlin for bluestockings
7. FOR THE BON VIVANTS
Not everything will be pedaling . These small instruments are also good living guides . Routes are proposed for each neighborhood, essential cultural stops and a wonderful information table that reads: refueling . To refuel! How do you refuel in the city? with an address of where to eat , another of where to drink and one last, where is Free WIFI . Where would you refuel? Haut Marais of Paris ? City Cycling, bicycle oracle, sentence: eat at the Breizh Café, drink at Merce and the Muse and update your social networks at La Terrase des Archives.
Ghent City Cycling
8. FOR THOSE FROM THE NEIGHBORHOOD
The guides are small but powerful: do not be overwhelmed by so much information. You can also dedicate yourself to visit just a neighborhood . For each one of the city, several routes are traced that pass through all kinds of places, museums, terraces, mountains, rivers... With their corresponding zonal map so you don't get lost . In the case of London, for example, Soho and Mayfair, Shoreditch, Borough, Notting Hill, Hampstead... step by step, pedal stroke.
London, neighborhood by neighborhood
9. FOR THE RIMBAUDS
We have to be realist: leave the Moleskine in the hotel, which weighs . The City Cycling bikes, in addition to being light and manageable, have a section at the end dedicated to your free will: some blank pages for you to fill with impressions, illustrations, curious addresses... Poems? In short, for everything that inspires you the city.
for Rimbaud's
10. FOR THE FORESEEING
If paranoia haunts you wherever you go with your bicycle (will I have a flat tire? will the gears be damaged? what if it is stolen?) City Cycling puts at your disposal the necessary information to know where there are workshops and also, public bike parking or places where you rent r your little 'burrita'.
eleven. FOR THE CLUTS
If not even with these keys you have found out very well what City Cycling is, don't worry. On the first page of each guide explains step by step how to use them and get their full potential . Then get on the bike and enjoy. Another city is possible.
12. FOR LUCKY ONES
If your mouth is already watering and your legs are pedaling alone at the thought of touring one of these cities with Rapha's guides, you can. *The Gripp bicycle store in Madrid is raffling a pack of guides on its Facebook page ** until February 3. You just have to indicate which city you would like to travel on two wheels and share your photo of the guides on your wall. Luck! Follow @catatonic\_toy _ You may also be interested..._
- Link to the Facebook contest of the Gripp store to win a pack of guides
- Cicloviajeros: the world seen from a bicycle
- All the articles of María F. Carballo
City Cycling, let's pedal!