VCG’s ‘Summer of Cycling’ is now in gear, and was kicked off in style when I attended the Pashley Picnic Ride! After 5 years of owning Frankie, it has certainly been a long time coming, and thanks to the amazing people at Pashley Cycles, me and The Boy went to the birthplace of my bike for a splendid stay and cycling adventure in Stratford-Upon-Avon. Pashley started the Picnic Rides back in 2012, as a way to celebrate the heritage of the company and thank customers of the brand for their loyal support. Held in association with the Traditional Cycle Shop, the annual ride draws a large crowd, with over 100 […]

Coffee and bikes – a well known combination loved by many cyclists, including myself… but what if I said the same could apply to tea? Always partial to a good Rosie Lee (well, I am from East London!), I’ve been enjoying some quality blends recently – so I was thrilled and intrigued when Tokyobike invited me round for a cuppa or two at the Good & Proper Tea Brew Bar which was in residence at their shop for four weeks… They say that tea in hot weather cools you down, so the surprise spring heat a few weekends ago was the perfect chance to hop on my Pashley, head to Shoreditch and put the theory into action surrounded […]

It’s not often that I let the Pashley out of my sight, but a couple of weeks ago I was happy to make an exception to the rule. My beloved Frankie went off on a photo-shoot for a few days with Brooks England! Knowing that she was going to be in safe hands, I didn’t mind having a bit of time off the saddle and let them take her away. Like a concerned mother, I was wondering what was going on with Frankie while she was away from me. Realising what I’m like and being a thoughtful Gent, Ted Young-Ing (who is also the Art Director for Brooks) sent me a photo […]

At the recent Tweed Run, The Boy and I were having a light-hearted lament about the Princess Classic (my model of Pashley) not coming with a Propstand as standard. This came about as we were trying to prop-up Frankie with an impromptu stand (a heavy twig!) before heading off for the group photo – but with little success. Overhearing our discussion & watching us battle with the bike, a very kind Gentleman came over and offered to park my Pashley alongside his against a tree.  “We really must sort out a Kickstand for you”, he said looking at Frankie… I didn’t think anything of this at 1st… and then after a little chat about […]

 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 […]

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.

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! 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 […]

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 sent* to me by CycleChic to the 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 […]

 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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

 It has been a rather busy week so far… and I’m pleased to say that it has all been fun social events & not work related now the mad period in the office has finished! The first thing to keep me happily busy was the official launch party for the new Tatty Devine book, “How To Make Jewellery With Tatty Devine“. I received a tweet from Team-Tatty inviting me to the event, so I got together with my lovely Tina and headed over to the event on Wednesday evening. The launch party was held in Drink, Shop & Do (a lovely boutique that I must make a cycle return on the Pashley to […]

 After all the ideas and planning, the inaugural BikemindedRBKC Cake & Coffee Cruise took place on the 24th September. Having taken part in the practice-cycle with Kathryn a few weeks ago, I was very excited about how the event would go with the group of invited cyclists & bloggers on the day. The Boy* and I arrived at Pedlars which was the meeting place for the Cruise, and were welcomed by a scene of bicycles & a lot of chic looking cyclists! Beautiful sunshine and smiles appeared to be the order of the day as we had a meet-and-greet session outside over some Flat Whites with our fellow riders. This was a […]

 Marsupial Bicycle Bags is an independent company based in Brentford. Founded in 2010, their aim is to make “interesting and practical bike luggage” that reflects the personality and character of the cyclist and their bike. I’d seen one if their Panniers on display in a well known London Cycling Shop –  the design certainly caught my attention and I wanted to find out more about this very different Pannier. So, when I was contacted by them to review* one on VCG, I had to give it a whirl… The material the Grass-Shopper is made from is something that I have never seen on the Pannier market before: it consists of a single piece of Astroturf […]

Last month I met with Kathryn of BikemindedRBKC to discuss working together on ideas for future cycling projects. Plenty of progress has happened since that excellent meeting, and the first project to come from it will be the Kensington & Chelsea Cake & Coffee Cruise! The C&CC will be a cycle cruise to some of the Royal Borough’s Cafés, with the chance to sample some of the best Coffee & Cakes on offer with a degustation menu being specially arranged for the ride… including a very special luxury foodie stop along the way. With the various Coffee-Stops confirmed by Kathryn & the Bikeminded team, the next step was to get together for a […]

A few weeks ago The Boy and I were invited to join our friend & Photographer Paul Winch-Furness for lunch at Melograno, a lovely Deli in Holland Park where he was working for the day. Of all my Coffee-Cycle Days, this would be my most epic one to date! Having never cycled from Newham to Kensington, I loaded up the route on Google Maps and had it ready to go on my iPhone. The usual CS3 journey was fine: we broke away from it and followed the route Google had plotted. Along the way, there was the chance to take in some sights: cycling along Embankment, through a traffic free Mall & past Buckingham […]

It’s always rather nice when like-minded cyclists come together, and because of that some exciting things are in the pipeline here at Vélo-City-Girl… I’m currently working with Bikeminded on a fabulous new project! Bikeminded is a fantastic campaign by the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It’s a cycling resource for residents and aims to encourage more residents of the Borough to get on two wheels and experience more of the area (a brilliant example of this being their recently launched ‘Bike Heros‘ project). I cycled to Nude Espresso on Hanbury Street to meet-up with the lovely Kathryn of Bikeminded a couple of weeks ago to discuss ideas for the project, which I’m very excited to say […]

As I’ve finally sorted out a Rear Rack for my Pashley, what would the next logical step be? Adorn it with a new Pannier of course… I was very lucky (and utterly over the moon!) to receive* this Kitsch Kitchen Pannier from CycleChic for a review. Founded by Caz Nicklin, this independent London-based online store offers an array of stylish cycling accessories for women, including Clothing, Helmets and of course Panniers. The Kitsch Kitchen bags come in various patterns – this one is the Florapola, which is pretty lively! I went for the Yellow colourway (it also comes in White and Orange) as the contrast between it and the Pashley was nice and bright…and I reckon it’ll […]

A year and a bit later, Frankie is getting some upgrades to her frame. Last week I started hunting for a Pletscher Rack for my Pashley. It was time to get the rear sorted so I could get Pannier bags to carry more stuff easily. As she’s a Princess Classic, she didn’t come with a Rack as standard. Yes, it was probably a bit slack of me not to have sorted out more storage earlier, but the big Basket was doing a fabulous job of carrying everything… well, up to a point. Throughout the week, it started to turn into a mission to find the black Pletscher Athlete I was after. […]

Last Sunday the Sun was shining and London was glowing….the weather was finally perfect for the Photo Shoot with Horst Friedrichs to go ahead!  It didn’t go quite according to plan on the 1st attempt earlier this month, so you can imagine our joy when the City decided to give us the light, at last. Thanks to The Boy being the brilliant photographer he is, he took some pictures of what was going on behind the scenes for the blog – thank you so much Sir for these! It was lovely to see Horst again & also meet his assistant Filip, who bought me my favourite flowers (Peonies) to put […]