The Trouser-Roller

Roll up

One of the down sides of cycling, at least in the eyes of some people, is that the greasy chain can make the trousers dirty. It's probably not a big deal when one wears a special cycling gear, but may have disastrous consequences for the common urban commuters.

On the face of it, it sounds like a valid reason to prefer other means of transport. However, as the cyclist above shows, it is merely an excuse and one can easily roll up the trouser legs. When there's a will, there's a way to cycle.

I took the picture on 31 January 2013 on the Canal cycle path. And there's one more photo:

When there's a will there's a way

The Men Lover

I like men

What could we say about this cyclist? She's obviously into men and not afraid to show it (not that there's anything wrong with that) :)

I came across her along the canal cycle path off Charlemont Street on 21 February 2013. And there's another zoomed out version:

Waiting

The Superman On Bike

What was a man with a cape doin' with my father?

Dublin can get very blustery from time to time. The wind can turn every showerproof jacket into a superhero cape. While I was waiting for green light I imagined this cyclist fighting all the villain motorists out there... :)

I shot the photo above on 21 March 2013 in Rathmines.

The Pedestrian Disturber

Get out of MY way!

Cynical motorists would say that it's a shame how 99% of the cyclists give the rest a bad name. True, not all the cyclists in Dublin are law-abiding citizens (amusingly enough, Dublin's motto in Latin is "Obedientia Civium Urbis Felicitas" or in English: "The citizens' obedience is the city's happiness". Think about it the next time you hang around). Yet, the situation ain't that bad and it's not limited to cyclists (jaywalking and bad driving are the norm). And it can always get much worse. :)

Sometimes, however, I come across cyclists that the only relief I have seeing them cycling is that they could have been even more harmful behind the steering wheel of a car. Take for example the girl in the blurry photo above. She had overtaken me by breaking the red light in three traffic lights before the picture was taken, just for me to pass her again a hundred yard down the road. Eventually she stopped at the red light, blocking oncoming cyclists (like the arrow-misreader or even closer to the racers). I took out the camera and was ready to shoot when the light changed. As you can easily see she turned right, cutting off pedestrians who crossed while they had green.

How rude. This is certainly not the right way to win the hearts of other road users. I guess she just didn't care.

I took the picture on 23 January along the canal path.

The Queuers

To infinity and beyond

One evening, as I was cycling along the Grand Canal, I came to turn left towards Harold's Cross when I noticed ten (10!) people on bike queueing, waiting for the red light to change. There were two more cyclists behind the woman in purple that aren't visible in this picture so it adds up to 12 or 13 cyclists including your humble cyclist.

A few years ago such a wonderful view would have been virtually unseen in Dublin. Nowadays it's a commonplace.

As you can see from the photograph, so many people can fit into such a narrow space when on bike. Conversely, as an average automobile carries about 1.5 persons, try to imagine how would it look like if all these cyclists were to use a car instead...

Feel free to send a link to this post the next time you hear a driver complaining about cyclists who supposedly get into their way...

I took the picture on Robert Emmet Bridge on the 19th of March 2013. I took another one, just in case:

Cyclist X 10

The Metro Cyclist

Paper boy

I'm not a big fan of the Metro Herald newspaper. Frankly, It's rubbish (luckily a recyclable rubbish, even though, sadly, it's not always being recycled by its readers). Nonetheless, I admire the brave guys who give out this paper. They stand there, always with a smile, rain or shine (or more recently, snow), daylight or darkness, trying desperately to push the paper to whoever happens to pass by. Marketing in its most crude form. And above all, I spot many of them cycling to/from work. Well done!

I took the picture on Barrow Street on the 18th of February 2013.

The Racers

We wait for no one!

Dublin's cyclists are second to none. That's meant literally, they can't accept waiting behind other cyclists. It could be an acceptable behaviour in a racing track, but in practice it means that the two nitwits on the right were blocking cyclists who come from Ranelagh and want to turn left into the cycle path and the imbecile on the left was virtually begging cars and lorries to knock him off...

I took the picture on 7 March 2013 on the Grand Canal cycle path.