Me, My Bike, and I

The Old One

Michael Peacock a Philosophy 3rd year from Pembroke.

My bike’s name: The Rudge

The story: Originally belonging to Michael’s grandfather, The Rudge was born circa 1942 in Sheffield. Michael’s Grandad also went to Pembroke, and rode The Rudge down to college at the start of each term, with his belongings in his backpack. At the end of each term he rode it back up north to get home. Michael insists that The Rudge retains most of its original parts, including the saddle, but concedes that he has had replacement ‘brakes, pedals, wheels…’

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The Pint-Sized Ride

Chloe Grover, who is from Robinson and a 2nd year phd student in Chemistry.

My bike’s name: Cosmo

The story: After admiring her boyfriend’s pint-sized ‘Hercules’ bicycle, Chloe decided she’d like a dainty ride too. Before long, the ‘Cosmopolitan’ had entered her life, and a beautiful romance was born. However, the path of true love never did run smooth: Cosmo required no less than nine tyre replacements in their first year together.

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The One Of A Kind

Nancy Chen is from Peterhouse studying Economics in her 3rd year.

My bike’s name: Veronica

The story: Nancy’s Dutch-style bike was the first of its kind made by a man in North London. Nancy says that this is the only reason that her bike is orange: it was the only colour he’d made. Recently, ‘a male friend’ rode Veronica and popped a spring in her saddle, and nowadays Nancy finds that longer distances can cause discomfort. She also experiences fashion dilemmas when it comes to riding Veronica in red or pink clothes.

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The Resurrection

Mona Ebert is a Fresher from Homerton studying English.

My bike’s name: It doesn’t have one.

The Story: Mona’s bike used to belong to her mum, but was left unused and neglected for four whole years, until Mona introduced him to the streets of Cambridge in October. Mona crashed the mint-green machine directly into a wall during Freshers’ Week, which might suggest that breaking out the bike for a bit of a practice during its four years’ dormancy mightn’t have been such a bad idea.

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The Posh One

Tamsin Lim is an MML Fresher from Murray Edwards.

My bike’s name: The fairly ridiculous ‘Pashley Princess’, although Tamsin insists that this is just the name of the make.

The story: Tamsin and Pash have been together for 3 years. Pash is the same model that Lily Cole had nicked in 2009. Tamsin almost found history repeating itself the other day when Pash’s lock was chopped and she was removed from her parking space. Luckily, however, she had simply been relocated to another spot. Tamsin and Pash enjoy a fiery relationship: the bike ‘literally attacks’ Tamsin ‘all the time’ and has a particular knack for ‘ripping tights’. Sexy.

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Offensive To The Eyes

Historian Henry Charrington and NatSci Steve ‘Cheeky Steve’ Purvis are both from John’s.

Our bikes’ names: The boys are too unimaginative to name their bikes. They also suggest that this kind of pursuit is ‘gay’.

The story: Henry and Steve both bought their bikes on the cheap (£50 for Henry, £30 for Steve), and then commenced to fluoro-pimp their rides. Henry explains that he chose bright yellow with a contrast saddle because of a liking for ‘Ikea’; Steve wanted fluorescent red ‘for John’s’, but found the fact that the colour ‘doesn’t exist’ to be a slight obstacle. This explains the orange. Henry and Steve’s bikes are ‘fixies’, but Henry is keen to stress that ‘Steve’s has a brake, because he is a pussy’. However, Henry does concede that its lack of brakes is ‘the worst thing’ about his bicycle, and the fixie ‘skid-stop’ (a way of slowing down without the use of brakes) sometimes causes Steve’s ‘back wheel to fall off’. Worrying.