It’s taken me all of a month to finally get around to putting a few of my favourite pics together from the holidays, but here they are.

After some nightmare flight delays and lots and lots of snow, we finally made it to NYC in time for New years. Having seen Ian’s post go up a few days before about NYC Riders over the xmas period, I got the itch to have a ride around the city.

On 2 Jan, after having fully recovered from the NYE hangover, I ventured out in search of a bike to hire.

Staying with a friend in the Lower East Side, there were stacks of bike shops around. A friend recommended Chari & Co. on Stanton Street. Besides having loads of very desirable gear, the guys were friendly, and had me sorted in no time. I was kinda hoping to hire a fixie (which they do have), but the city streets were still a mess from the blizzards a few days before, and what with the yanks driving on the wrong side of the road, I figured it would be a bit more sensible taking a freewheel and brakes for my first ride around the island.

The snow had for the most part melted away, but a lot of streets were still quite iced up. Where there was no longer snow, there was a thick layer of caked up mud/sludge/glass/trash along the shoulder of the road (which inevitably led to me getting a puncture later in the day).

I did the round at all the big tourist sites, but highlights were most certainly the view from the Williamsburg Bridge, high-tailing it down 5^th Avenue and the mirror view over the Jacky Kennedy Reservoir in Central Park. Lo-lights were the puncture and that I managed to stack it like a total fool right in front of the Flat Iron building. Staring at the building instead of the curb in front of me, I flipped over the bars. Fortunately at super slow speed, but still enough to leave me with a few good bruises. I call it NYC’s way of saying ‘hello’.

If you’re interested in seeing my whole route, you can check it out here, and use the absolutely frikkin cool 3D function to see a fly-over of the route, it’s RAD!

Enjoy the pics (click below for more photos)

The lady

More Photos

If you haven’t caught wind of it already, PUMA are hosting a pop-up afterhours club in Cape Town next month. The concept pays homage to the “after hours sports”, namely pool, ping pong, darts, foosball, karaoke and bowling.

We’ll meet at & Union for a beer and pulled pork sandwich at 7.30pm, after which we’ll take a leisurely roll through town and surrounds before heading back up to 120 Buitengracht, where the Social Club is at. (Ian – ping pong annihilation is coming your way!)

Map detials below

To coincide with the opening  on Thursday 2 December, Fixed Gear Cape Town will be hosting a super chill bike ride through town. ALL BICYCLES ARE WELCOME, so please come and say hi. More Photos

A quick edit from last month’s record Critical Mass ride. Spread the word and lets make next week’s ride even bigger!

Critical Mass Cape Town October 2010 from highartlowlife on Vimeo.

The ride will start at 11am in front of the city hall in Darling street at 11am

So as some of you might have noticed, next weekend sees the annual creative smulch-fest, better known as the Loeries, roll into town again.

The friendly folks over at 10and5 are putting on a Saturday beer garden party. The location is as yet undisclosed, so get over to their event page and register yo bad self to get in on the action.

More importantly >> We’re getting a bunch of riders together to do a ride around town as part of the day’s events.

The route will be a leisurely one, taking in all the city’s favourite sights.

We will start at 11am in front of the city hall in Darling street at 11am

and end at the Bierfest venue, so get there for about 10.45 to make sure you don’t get left behind. What’s more, the nice 10and5′ers have let us know that we will be warmly welcomed with beer and sausages on arrival… Win!!!

It’s gonna be rad, so join us for the ride. Let us know by dropping a line in the comments section under this post, and we’ll keep you in the loop. Also be sure to head over to 10and5 and REGISTER as places are limited, and going fast!

Here are the Route Details:

1. Rendevouz in front of the town hall in Darling street at 11.00.
2. Head East down Sir Lowry towards the Good Hope Centre.
3. Turn left on to Oswald Pirow and over the bridge and straight all the way till the road ends.
4. Turn left to take the road that runs underneath the N1.
5. Take the paths around the back and through the CTICC.
6. Exit the CTICC and turn right on to Coen Steytler ave
7. Continue straight until Coen Steytler becomes Dock rd.
8. At the large roundabout, make the cursory two rotations, and turn of left to go up Port rd.
9. Follow Port rd all the way around till the dock house.
10. Turn right off Port rd and head towards the Amphitheatre in fron of the V&A.
11. Keep to the left, in front of all the restaurants, right next to the boats and on to E-Pier rd.
12. Around the back of the V&A, turn left onto Breakwater lane.
13. Follow Breakwater all the way around till it joins Beach rd.
14. Right on to Beach rd.
15. Left on to Fritz Sonnenberg rd, pass the Stadium.
16. Cut off the rd and head over the open car park area towards the pedestrian roundabout (under the Western Boulevard roundabout).
17. Join on to Main rd. Follow Main till it becomes Somerset, Somerset till it becomes Riebeeck.
18. Turn Right onto Long. Follow Long all the way up till it becomes Kloof, then follow your leaders till they reveal the hidden Beer Garden.

And the route map:

You can also check out the facebook page here

Look forward to seeing you all there!