MAJs gay bikes [she’s in her fitness era]

Internet love and hugs your way >>>>>>

thank you for all the kind words people, really, it does help and being able to share positive news helps more. im slowly getting back to normal,

part of that is im thinking of a little ride this coming sunday, probably just some cycle paths/canal round walthemstowe/leyton/stoke newington. maybe beaten by a whisker, to romeo a jullietta and/ or mickeys chippy. need to get back into the swing of things and probably better to start small

morning time, if you want to pootle about too drop me a dm

additionally, if any sound people want to pop along to trans pride this weekend and don't have anyone to go with, drop me a dm. it's on saturday. even if you're cis and want to bring your kids and or partner. pride is a protest and all that, solidarity accross communities makes our voices louder etc.

fuck labour, fuck wes etc.

Lots of nice bikes at trans pride today, lots of good dogs too

Shout out to the person with the excellent fixie with metal guards, dyno , 3 colour ck headset and a caradice.

Also the very tasteful ratty nature boy

Really the happening place for bike inspo and queer solidarity

Good afternoon spin,

Down the canal, over the wetlands to beaten by a whisker. I had a peanut iced latte and a focaccia. I was skeptical about the peanut iced latte but it was delicious, like a sweet satay milkshake. Reccomend.

then round the Lea valley paths to Stoke Newington through the backstreets of hackney for Romeo and guilietta.

They had peach and mango sorbet today, was perfect after a ride in this heat.

Whole route barely touches main roads or busy junctions so is excellent for a chit chat pootle between friends.

Factor 50 was worn and re applied

Was good to be out on the bike, felt a lot stronger for it after everything this year. Goes to show you just need to keep the speed down and breaks often; planning your route around that makes it just as enjoyable a 10s of miles skipping between villages.

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Bike looks so good. The purple one looks lovely too! Focaccia keeps popping up, the 2024 mid ride snack of choice? Or more artisan Focaccia bakers around?

The people yearn for bakeries to do savoury goods, but the bakers fear people coming in and saying “mmm I could just go to greggs”

they circomvent this by serving a tomato pizza slice with a fruity Italian name.

Short rides to see @BareNecessities before he and badgers went off into the woods over a couple of weekends. As usual I am left with a couple of odes to the short bike ride

the all city remains the ideal bike for riding around a single, maybe 2, postcodes on the weekend. Leaving it locked outside the cafe, the charity shop or the store, not a care in the world. Delightfully silent as you roll through a quiet side street. Slender enough to not be blocked by a poorly parked SUV or and overly eager merger. A position which won’t get you further than five miles or so but will make those five miles feel cooler than they should.

In contrast the hulsroy left me yearning to ride a little further but my health will not allow it at this time. The time will come soon I expect. Can feel it. That said being able to get on it, ride it and carry it between trains without feeling like I was going collapse has made the purchase worth while. Sad case of a custom bike being the ideal solution, possibly the only time ever.

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It’s shit fixie skidders say but riding a fixed gear in the late summer sun is quite good isn’t it girls

Nothing like a quiet side street, school kids chirping, city buzzing two roads over and maybe even a siren further more. All while you Silently glide through, not a sound other than the odd, quiet, ‘thank you’ as a pedestrian steps aside. chain chatter if you’ve been doing this for some time.

The needless showman ship of swaying out your saddle as you churn up a modest hill. Maybe even a cheeky no hands as you sail a little too close to the door zone. A perch on your top tube as you approach a junction, waiting longer than needed. Just because you’re enjoying the feeling so much.

It’s the small things girls, let me tell you

seem to only ever ride the all city at the moment, not sure if it's the fact it's the only one downstairs in the shed or the fact it can be locked up. if i was honest i would say it's because it feels a bit vulgar to ride a custom mtb 1000 meters down the road to the coffee shop.

couple of friends and forum faves swung round for coffee at perkyns for a catch up and moan session. the usual topics circulated, the weather, rent, what drugs one had been taking to deal with political pressures on your identity, hows the cancer, having kids. normal stuff. ended in a spin back to my place to try and give away some bike parts before i inevitably move.

was strange catching up with people i hadn't seen in six months or more, i was recounting my liver escepades and it wasn't till it was all falling out of my mouth i realised how insane it was. i mean i'd told people and talked about it over the last few months but it did not really set in. i think it was more presient because it was a couple of days before the big check up with the doctor. after a talk about brass eye i waved off my friends and gave one a waterproof so he didn't catch a chill, locked the bike up and went back to my painting desk.

this was all a couple of days ago, i've seen the doctor now.

they said "hayley, the good news is the lump hasn't grown, the bad news is it's cancer, what's more your liver is a cancer producing machine, the dura ace of cancer producing livers if you will "

i had to blink at this point as it was clear i was imagining things, there is no way this dry oxbridge type with stripey socks cared much about bikes past how bike the panniers were and how much padding the saddle had. he was successful after all, not a pervert.

"forever cancer?" i muttered

he nodded, enthusiastically. this all confused me further because what he was saying did not line up with my years of watching doctor house other than his mannerisms matching a slightly autistic posh boy. he continued from my prompt

"your liver will produce cancer forever, but we can treat them, easily actually and without anesthetic. it's going to be hard to understand this as to be frank with you miss, most my colleagues wouldn't get this"

his voice was reasuring in the way only a very intelegent person with no social skills can be

"every instance is a new cancer, contrary to regular cancer, and we can scan you regularly, as we have been so we can always do it non invasively. we want to hit you with a .." he describes what i imagine is a radio therapy weapon somewhere between marvin the martians blaster and the ray gun from call of duty zombies ".... now my colleagues dismissed this previously and i think it's because they did not understand what it is you have or the effectiveness of this treatment, we have this great new machine, it's just getting sign off because the company went bust"

now to anyone reading im sure this is alarming, the last things you want to hear in the medical room is "your body is unique and we've got this new stuff with low data on it", especially when dealing with radiation. i imagine what you want to hear is you're bang average and we see and cure these things reliably thousands of times. with a body like mine i've come to expect the opposite, i'm in the best research and training hospital in the country and they've got a new doohicky the private patients have paid for. sounds excellent.

"we want to wait till it's bigger, by that time we'll have sign off and can get you booked in, any questions?"

well loads, but more so existntially right now and this did not seem to be the man to have philisophical reflections about life with. although if we were discussing his opinions on overly conservative medical practices over a half pint of bitter im sure he'd be very informative.

I sort of stumbled out the room, got some bloods taken and then walked to my partner in the waiting room to fill them in. what did this all mean? i'm ok but i now live something like a transexual wade wilson? i have to live next to oxford and london indefinately? all seemed like a lot, especially having spent my weekends moaning about rent.

the good news is however i'd have lots of time to ride my fixie still, drink half pints and read a book on a brisk winter afternoon outside a coffee shop quicky being over ran by children with a higher net worth than me.

I hope you're as ok as it's possible to be with news like that. I hope if I'm ever in a similar situation that I deal with it in such good humour.

that's it, we're going to southall broadway next spring for a long overdue catch up over masala chai and jalebis xx

Ah Mate. Chronic illness is never the one, and the big C is always a terrorising prospect. Your little thing about ‘what an inconvenience’ is totally a relatable response, grandad’s was ‘am I moving into the suburbs?’
If I’m in the boroughs let us ride our custom bikes 1000m to the cafe together.

Thanks guys, it’s a lot to take in but hopefully it gets easier

In the mean time me and the girls are planning 2025s bike trip, it’s a new concept I’m working on

Everyone takes their best bike on holiday and flys somewhere hot, what if you put your worst bike on a train and took it somewhere middling and cold.

Tune in for the upcoming season of

4 (tbc) friends explore the baltics by bike and train,

Conceptually the idea is getting a eurail pass, heading north, packed light and with a lock, rolling around the Baltic coast. Crashing in hostels and relying mostly on vibes and the debit card rather than forward planning

The bike is not really for touring, that’s what the train is for. But it will take you round the cities.

Thinking a bit Anthony bourdain meets woke top gear

Sounds like an awesome way to travel!

Sounds fun, is it easy to take bikes on the trains there?

from absalutely minimal research it seems similar rules to the uk - so yes, but varies on time of day/ booking/ vibes/ position of sun in relation to the moon.

that said early plan is to just take fixed bikes one can just put in a rinko bag to keep all bases covered. i'm 40% sure my all city will fit in the suitcase sizing requirements with the wheels off and bars turned.

I have successfully done this in the past.
https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/376896/

I don't have much to say tbh. I've spent a lot of the last 20 years "cancer adjacent". It's bullshit.
Sending all healing thoughts, vibes etc, but glad you're dealing with real doctors not me.

The bike is not really for touring, that’s what the train is for. But it will take you round the cities.
Thinking a bit Anthony bourdain meets woke top gear

Bless, I don't get to travel much and loooove travel reports & pics.

Laughed out loud at "dura ace of cancer producing livers" sorry.

Sounds like an awesome way to travel!

doesn't it just!

I can share info if needed if you plan to visit Lithuania, shoot me a message if u want 👌

Latvia seacoast is a bit boring on the south side, Ryga to Estonian should be nice

Everyone takes their best bike on holiday and flys somewhere hot, what if you put your worst bike on a train and took it somewhere middling and cold.

This is a truly beautiful thing.

The fellows from Hunt have toured the Balkans, albeit with many more kms, but the riding looks v nice
III pt. 1
III pt. 2
III pt. 3

Earlier on in the year I finally sorted my dietary issues which means after 29 years for the first time in my life I’m putting on weight. Which is good. However as a woman on the cusp of 30, developing acid reflux and not having the metabolism I once did, I’ve put on 10 kilos or so.

It’s good, I feel healthier for it in most ways, the issue however is it’s nearly entirely fat. Which is fine, but combined with my heart issues and the fact I’ve become reasonably stationary in my lifestyle due to cancer depression, I am desperately out of shape.

Even for me, with my shitty ticker.

As such I’ve egged myself up to try and ride my bike once every morning for, hopefully, every day of December. I’ve started early as to try and get myself used to the cold, for every 3 days I do it I’m thinking I can get a coffee on the way back. A sort of incentive.

It would be nice to go to my cardiologist in January and say “we’ll actually yes I have been riding my bike again like you asked”

Today I dressed way too warm to tempt myself out the house, dressed sort of like maggie in her star suit puffer jacket riding on to Wood Green road. The first mild inclines really showed me how much I probably needed to start this 3-4 months ago.

I should add I’m doing this on the ol fixed gear which is a bigger gear than I used to ride since I bought it. Thinking of it like…. Resistance training, maybe a leg press.