So it was the most glorious day ever in Brighton today! The sun was shining to the max and it was my day off, so a bike ride was definitely in order. Having not really explored Brighton and surrounds too extensively, I decided to see how far I could ride. I ended up being pleasantly surprised with the outcome. After you cycle past the Brighton Marina the bike path opens up and follows the road along the cliff top. It’s quite a view both back towards Brighton and forwards along the cliffs face.
This is the best view of the day… Or maybe this is…
Well there were lots of good views all day so I am just going to post a bunch of photos and let you see for yourselves!
As you can see it was all quite a wonderful adventure there were some pretty fun hills to climb and then the last part was all flat path, and not too many people around. Consequently I did some sprints and saw a fellow fixie rider cruising along on a similar mission. The final hill in the last photo was pretty epic and I was rewarded with a flat tyre from a pretty killer looking rock 
Put quite a puncture in my tyre but the tube wasn’t too messed up as I was able to make it back into Brighton before it went totally flat. There was definitely some fast riding in order then. Having not been organised enough to buy a patch kit previously I popped into my local bike shop and picked one up on the way home. A project for later on!
After arriving home I relaxed with a rather large chickpea and mixed greens salad, with a smokey balsamic dressing and watched The Walking Dead. Good times. But they were not over. Oh no, not by a long shot. While consuming my salad and watching TWD I received a phone call from my friend inviting me to the beach to embrace the sun. The offer was accepted and before you know it I was having a marvellous time playing hacky sack and skateboard cricket on Brighton’s stoney beach. The fun continued when we discovered table tennis tables and were able to procure some bats and a ball. Oh what fun we had. Laughing and playing, and getting highly competitive…
After exhausting ourselves with the table tennis tournament we retired to the beach to watch the magnificent sunset and skim rocks into the ocean.
So that was my day. It was rather magnificent, the only possible improvement would have been having my lovely lady with me!
The End.
I went for a bike ride this afternoon. Since I am not riding as regularly as I used to I really appreciate the times I get to ride my bike and it makes me love it all the more. The sun had been shining all day here in Brighton, and I was trapped at work looking out onto the street with all the happy cyclists riding by. I wanted to be one of them. To be frivolously riding to my hearts content. To have nowhere to go and no people to see, just the wind in my hair and feeling free. Somehow all of my posts seem to end up with rhymes. Hence the title of this post.
I would like to start a beatboxing / freestyle rhyming bike gang, where we would have bikes like this…
and bust some sweet beatboxing and rhymes like this…
I know what you’re saying, “man I want to be in that bike gang!” well if I had magical powers to build super gangsta badass bikes and give everyone incredible beatboxing powers I would. But alas I don’t so we will just have to make do with what we’ve got.
Which is, kinda cool bikes and mediocre beatboxing skills. Oh well I can still dream and ride and beatbox oh and juggle… And I have always wanted to ride a unicycle, its one of my lifelong goals to ride a unicycle and juggle at the same time. Essentially become a clown, but maybe without the creepy face paint. Either way there will be riding and rhyming!
Ok so go out and start awesome beatboxing bike gangs and fill the world with wonder!
Word.
What what?!?!
This is a little something I came up with a short while ago based on a recipe that I use to make my world famous hummus… Since everyone clearly appreciated my ‘Ode to Felafel’ I shall carry on with my food-based poetry, and I think this is a fitting continuation.
Bon rappetit!
Ok ladies and gents what we’re making today
Is a little treat that will make you say
Why, this is the greatest thing I’ve ever dipped
My bread into, it makes me feel hip
This is a hummus that tastes so great
You’ll wanna make it for every date
Takes 2 cans of chickpeas all blended up
And a few other ingredients that made the cut
Throw in the all garlic, chilli and olive oil
Spooning out the tahini maybe a toil
Along comes the spices a teaspoon at a time
Cumin, smoked paprika, coriander then lime
Juice 2 of those suckers into the mix
The more juice the better don’t take the risk
Not enough juice will make your hummus chunky
Leaving your guests to say “man this is funky…”
To make this hummus sit above the rest
There’s one last trick to help you pass the test
This hummus wouldn’t be the same without the time spent
On adding in that last ingredient
With a flavour that seduces every tongue
And what makes this hummus number one
It comes from a land not far away
This spicy dipping sauce never goes astray
In all kinds of foods, especially this
Delicious nutritious Middle Eastern dish
You may have guessed what it is right now
Its sweet chilli sauce and the crowd says wow!
Pour on in that sweet chilli goodness
And we’re all aboard the hummus express
Now the most important part of this recipe
Is how to combine these ingredient-y
I think a food processer may be required
By hand if you like, but its better when wired
Whizz that shit up into a smooth paste
Is it delicious? Give it a taste
Adjust the amounts to make it fantastic
And it’s not from a container made of plastic
You will never buy hummus from a shop again
Commercially made dips are just not the same
So take this recipe to the masses
And if you got any questions I got answers
Word.
I take crap photos that were never going to be anywhere near as good as the ones already on the internet so I just did a google images screenshot of what you get when you search for hummus.
Peas out…
Hey hey!
An ode to felafel
What is this fine food, that puts me in the mood?
Thats round like a ball, but not one at all?
Its soft and it crunches, is perfect for lunches
Goes well in a wrap, add hommus to that
Is the perfect meal, and the price is a steal
Made from chickpeas, makes me weak at the knees
It can be gourmet, or just take away
In oil its deep fried, to make it I’ve tried
Tonight was the batch, that’ll be hard to match
Mixed with salsa and cheese, we all say yes please
This middle eastern fare, is beyond compare
It’s never a hassle, fuck I love felafel…
Ok so maybe the last line didn’t rhyme so well but you get the point. If you hadn’t gathered from my amazing rhyming couplets I made felafel tonight and they were friggin heaps good. So here’s my photo essay of the felafel just to make you slightly jealous of my mad felafel making and eating skills…
Crispy fried goodness, to the max!
Felafel mix consists of: chickpeas, coriander stems and root, red onion, mint, garlic, chilli, cumin, salt, chickpea flour.
I soaked and boiled chickpeas, then whizzed up the rest of ingredients except for flour in food processor. Then chucked in the chickpeas and whizzed it a bit more til they were a nice chunky but fairly fine consistency.
I transferred to a bowl then mixed in about half a cup of chickpea flour to bind it all together. Form it into balls and fry it in about a centimetre of oil til they be golden all over. I use groundnut oil which looks and smells a lot like peanut oil but apparently isn’t…
This is the large amount of hummus (and glass of wine) that I made to go with it…
And this is the large amount of salsa I also made to go in my wrap…
The finished product on a wrap with fried eggplant, salsa, hummus and soon to be added goats cheese… My goodness it was amazing. And I am going to eat it tomorrow for lunch too! MWAHAHAHAHAH!!!
Ok well I would like to make a felafel based pun right now but its proving quite difficult. So feel free to smash a couple into the comments section if you can think of them.
WOO!
Are you excited? I am exciting by the very thrilling conclusion to my 3 part series about riding a fixie and whether or not having a brake is the right thing to do. Most of the blogs and news articles about fixies and accidents that I have read so far, say that obviously a brake helps if you need to stop quickly. Truer words were never spoken.
Functionally my bike is excellent. I can make it stop using the power of my legs. I can skid and look awesome and have fun, because skidding down a hill is actually quite a thrill and one of the main reasons I like riding my bicycle.
Sweet pic compliments of this website…
So then it all comes down to my own health and well being. So far by riding a couple of times a week on short journeys I have not had any issues. Going down substantial downhills can put a bit of strain on my legs and on the tyres but so far so good. I don’t ride like a maniac due to the fact that I know I can’t stop quickly and the crazy traffic rules allowing cars to park in any direction kind of freaks me out, when they pull out on the opposite side of the road and head right at you…
Well this conclusion hasn’t been as exciting as I thought it might be… until now!
This bike is made of gold!
Anyway at the end of the day brakes or no brakes I am still gonna ride my bicycle and have a friggin great time. At the moment I don’t feel like its pressing to go out and purchase some brakes as I am not really depending on my bicycle for transport. I mostly just ride for leisure and to run the occasional errands around town.
Sorry to disappoint my legions of fans but there is no outcome to this tale. The brake/no brake debate will go on as it is not an argument of logic and more of personal taste. I figure as long as I am not putting myself into dangerous situations and riding sensibly then all will be golden. And if not, c’est la vie…
This is not my pic its from here… http://pugofmyheart.wordpress.com/
Whattup?
So as you may have guessed, if you’re clever enough, this is the second instalment of my thrilling multi-part series about being awesome and riding a fixie, while at the same time being slightly terrified but looking shit hot while doing it…
Review this picture…
Did you just pee your pants a little over how most excellent this bike is? This is my bikes electro loving brother. Where this bike goes, heads turn, sub woofers thud, hot pants are worn and champagne and redbull (rampagne, you should try that shit) is on tap… anyway its a sweet deal.
Now review this picture…
This is what happens when you put brakes on a fixie. Suddenly you’re highly organised and sensible with your riding attire. You are able to carry large loads and tour around entire countries for weeks on end. Now to some that may sound like a dream, well to be honest it does sound alright and I have been thinking about doing something like that for a long time.
But that’s not the point. Fixies are meant to be fixies and they should look totally badass, and be slightly dangerous even though they are verging on clichéd to ride them. Which sucks by the way, because they can be heaps of fun if there aren’t too many hills or automobiles around. So why would I want to put brakes on my heaps rad fixie and make it slightly safer, when I could save the money, the effort, the style, aesthetic and cool points and just stay brakeless? To which I say, maybe I will…
