Burras en Guayanilla / Cruisers in Guayanilla

Lo que dice el título. El pueblo de Guayanilla está repleto de burras y tricicletas, aunque ayer no encontré ninguna tricicleta para tomarle fotos. Pude retratar estas dos burras. En la plaza de Ponce ví un hombre sobre una burra que parecía ser totalmente cromeada pero se me escapó mientras tiraba otra foto de larga exposición./ What the title says. The town of Guayanilla is full of cruiser bicycles, and that includes tricycles, although I didn't spot any tricycles yesterday, I only snapped a picture of these two bikes. In the town of Ponce I spotted a man upon what appeared to be a full chrome cruiser, but he got away before I could snap a picture of him, I was busy taking another picture (long exposure).

La Moda en Bici/ Fashion Cycling III

Esta foto es de una fotografa que sigo atravez de Flickr, Olivia Malone. Da la casualidad que entré hoy y encontré estas fotografias recientes de ella. / I just happened to open my flickr page and there I found it, these two photographs by Olivia Malone, whom I've been following in Flickr for some time now.

Corrine Bailey Rae - Put Your Records On

Me alegra que en estos últimos dos días me eh topado con más de 20 personas (no ciclistas profesionales) en sus bicicletas. Ví un hombre en una bicicleta plegable, que nunca pensé iba a ver aquí. Que pena que no llevaba la cámara conmigo. En otras notas les dejo con un video de Corrine Bailey Rae, clima parecido a la de acá, ropa que se puede usar. La música no es mi favorita pero el video lo encuentro encantador con esas imagenes de lo que es el verano. / I'm very glad about the fact that these past couple of days I've spotted more than 20 non performance cyclists on their bikes. I saw this man with a folding bike which I thought I would never see here. It's a shame I didn't have my camera with me. On other notes I'll leave you with a video from Corrine Bailey Rae, the climate can be compared to the island, therefore, clothes we can use ladies. The music, well it's not my favorite but the video is very beautiful in all its summery splendor.

La Moda en Bici/ Fashion Cycling

Summer in the city
Originally uploaded by Pauline Franque

Se que la queja mayor de correr bicicleta aquí, luego de el hecho de que no hay carriles para bicicletas, es el calor. Haciéndose casi imposible vestirse bien, así que me propondré a buscar mas cosas relativas al clima de Puerto Rico (ahí van mis deseos de una corrida "tweed"). / I know that the biggest complaint of bike riding, after the fact that there are no bike lanes, in Puerto Rico is the heat, almost making it impossible to dress well, so I'm trying to find things much more relate-able to the Islands climate (there goes my wishes of a tweed run).

Flight of The Conchords

Estaba pensando que debería añadir más videos de música con bicicletas, y tengo una lista larga!!! pero decidí antes que nada que debería darle un "spotlight" a los chicos de Flight of the Conchords (que más bien es un duo de comediantes) con su video de "Mutha'uckers", si les gusta, les recomiendo "Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros" (mi favorita) y "It's Business Time". Que lo gocen! / I was thinking about adding more music videos featuring bicycles and I have a very long list! But I decided before adding anything else I would give these guys a spotlight, Flight of the Conchords (more of a stand-up-ish comedic band duo), and their "Mutha'uckers" video. If you like it, I recommend "Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros" which is one of my favorites and "It's Business Time". Enjoy!

La Moda en Bici/ Fashion Cycling

Quiero promover el uso de las bicicletas entre las mujeres de la Isla. Por lo general lo que se ven son hombres, y cuando veo mujeres, casi siempre es de arriba a abajo en lycra, no luce nada atractivo. Se que hace calor, tampoco quiero que corran en trajes de prom o boda pero que se mueva delicadamente. Les dejo con el ejemplo perfecto, Zooey Deschanel posando para un anuncio de Cotton (por cierto leí por algún lugar que esa bicicleta era Elgin). Pendiente al Domingo que viene, daré otro ejemplo. / I want to promote the use of bicycles in women of this Island. Usually I only see men on bikes and when I do see a woman, It's usually a full body suit of lycra, which isn't really fashionable. I mean I know it's hot here, I don't mean go around for a ride in a prom or bridal gown. Just try to keep it delicate. I leave you with the perfect example, Zooey Deschanel for a Cotton Commercial (by the way I read somewhere this beautiful bike was probably an Elgin). Be on the look-out for next Sunday, I have another great example.

Bici-Protesta / Bicycle Protest (Alto Contenido/ Image Heavy)

Hoy fue la bici-protesta que corrió desde la estación del tren de Sagrado Corazón hasta el Capitolio (Y luego la Plaza de Armas). Basicamente se promovió el uso de la bicicleta o los pies para llegar a lugares cercanos y al final en la Plaza de Armas, Los Niños Estelares (quienes andaban con nosotros en bici también), nos brindaron sus talentos musicales. Podrás ver más imágenes al hacer clic sobre cualquier foto./ Today was the bicycle protest which ran from the Train Station in Sagrado Corazón to "El Capitolio"(and later on to "Plaza de Armas"). Basically we promoted the use of a bicycle or legs, to get to nearby places, and the end we moved to Plaza de Armas where Los Niños Estelares gave us a demonstration of their musical talent. You can view more photos of the protest by clicking on any of the photographs below.

Dos Eventos, Una Semana/ Two events, One Week

Esta semana se estarán llevando a cabo dos eventos "bici-protesta" el miércoles (UPRRP) y el jueves (Estación de Sagrado Corazón) intentaré atender a ambas pero de seguro voy a la del jueves, que no tengo clases. Los flyers que se encuentran en este post contienen el enlace hacia el evento. Esperen fotos!!! This week there will be two bicycle protests going on wednesday (UPRRP) and thursday (USC Train Station), I will try to be at both protests but I will surely be there on thursday, I don't have class that day. The flyers below contain the link to the events. Photos will be uploaded ASAP!!!

Rent the Bicycle - Viejo San Juan

Estas bicicletas amarillas son iconfundibles, pertenecen a un negocio local en el Viejo San Juan, se llaman Rent the Bicycle y ofrecen tours en bicicleta alrededor del area norte de Puerto Rico, puedes alquilar la bicicleta por 3 horas como puedes por mas de un día. Igual si te estás quedando en algún hotel del area metro ofrecen entrega de la bicicleta al hotel. Puedes ver más información y fotos aquí y en su grupo de facebook. Si algún día estas por San Juan y quieres correr bicicleta aquí es el lugar. These yellow tourister bicycles cannot be mistaken, they belong to a local shop in Old San Juan named Rent the Bicycle. They offer tours on bikes in northeast Puerto Rico, as well as just bike rental to get around San Juan, you can rent them for 3 hours or you can rent them for days. If you are staying at a hotel nearby they also offer delivery. You can find more information here and this is their facebook group page. If you're ever in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico and want to ride a bike, heres the place.

Red Carpet Riders

Gracias a LA Cycle Chic me enteré de un grupo de "ciclistas" que se hacen pasar por "Red Carpet Riders", quienes promocionan el ciclismo urbano y moda, es lo que basicamente quisiera promocionar yo aquí en Puerto Rico, pero pienso que se ma hará difícil conseguir mujeres aquí en Puerto Rico quienes estarían interesadas en este tipo de cosa, la mayoría no quieren que se les dañe el pelo ya sea por el calor o el casco (incluyéndome a mí pero estoy dispuesta a hacer un sacrificio), no hay muchas vías de bicicletas donde nos podamos sentir seguras/os, el fin de semana pasada atropellaron a dos ciclistas en diferentes areas de la isla, y conseguirse una bicicleta tipo cruiser resulta ser un poco caro amenos de que se compre en una tienda por departamentos, como la mía. No estoy ni preparada para organizar una Corrida Tweed, pero supongo que debería ya moverme a hacer estas cosas.
Thanks to LA Cycle Chic for letting me in on this, there's a group called Red Carpet Riders who promote urban cycling & fashion, which is what I would like to promote here in Puerto Rico, but finding women in Puerto Rico who would want to do this I think will be a hard task, most of them don't want to mess up their hair with the heat or a helmet (including me but I'm willing to make a sacrifice), there are not many, if any, bicycle lanes, we have to share the road with the cars, last weekend 2 cyclists were injured by cars, and buying a cruiser can prove to be expensive unless bought in a dept. store, like mine. I 'm not even ready to ask if anybody is interested in a Tweed Ride. I don't know how I'll jump start a thing like this, but I supposed I should start moving this.

The Motiff

Ever since I've picked up photography people closest to me always asked if bicycles were my motiff, and I never really realized it 'til about 2 years ago. I see a bicycle and I immediately take out my camera and snap! So I decided to share some of my bicycle motiff'd photography. These were film, so these are just a couple, I've still got some neg's to scan.

Simply Bloom - Tandem Romance

I have been following the girls of Simply Bloom Photography for over a year when a friend first recommended them to me because I was covering my first wedding. They are truly talented and every time I see their tender images I fall in love all over again with their work. I decided to put up a few photographs of a Love Story they did with a couple and their tandem bicycle, absolutely stunning. Hope you enjoy, pay the girls a visit, there's a whole lot more where that came from.

Riding Into Danger

This past Friday morning, Metropolitan Puerto Rico was burning up after a Gulf Gasoline Refinery blew up at 12.20am. I'm a photojournalist student so I was thinking about going straight to the explosion to get coverage, it was far away even though this photo below is exactly what could be seen from home, but apparently everybody had already gotten in their cars and gone to see, so there was a huge traffic jam, a friend suggested I should go on my bike, but then there was news about gas lines under the street that were also most likely to explode, so I cowered. But apparently my friend didn't. Well actually I don't know if he actually went on his bike, he lives pretty close to the explosion, but well there is a pretty bicycle in his photograph. The fire was extinguished today Sunday about 12 o'clock midday.

This is the view from my house.

This is the photograph my friend took closer to the fire.

Beauty and The Bike

This is the trailer for a British based documentary from the organization, Beauty and The Bike, girls fighting for more bike paths away from traffic transit, also wants to inspire other girls to do the same. It's a great idea, when we're next to traffic we are in more danger. Often I contemplate going somewhere on my bike, but then I think about the traffic, and how difficult enough that road is even in a vehicle. Making bicycle paths to get to points of interests would be a great solution.

Nostalgia

Growing up in Florida I would ride my bike to school 1.5 miles, which isn't much, to school everyday. I loved the wind in my face, I even loved that I could barely breath on cold mornings. On rare occasions I had to have my mother pick me up on the account of I wasn't feeling very well, leaving my bike all alone at the post, I would demand my mother take me to school to pick up my bike. Upon moving to Puerto Rico, my school was about 15 miles rich in topography away from home, there weren't many sidewalks were I lived, for the love of me I can't even remember one. So I didn't ride my bike as much, sometimes in my backyard,
(I barely had friends, I was sour and pissed I had to leave Florida), so I would jump at the opportunity to go to a close living classmates house to do homework, an excuse!...to get my bike out. Then came University and Work and I kind of forgot all about it. I would ride my bike occasionally (about 5 times every 6 months), But I've been thinking about taking this up again, I've gotten my train bike pass and have asked for permission to use the bike post at my university, and hopefully taking Tilly to work on Sundays. Now for some cycling music...

Let's Begin

Hey! Jeighmee here,so I decided, with the encouragement of Shelly at Riding Pretty, to open my own blog about cycling as an alternative method of transport in Puerto Rico. I don't know if it's just me but it's pretty hard to achieve this in Puerto Rico, lots of up's and down's and owning a cruiser doesn't make it any easier. I own a Mountain Bike and recently my boyfriend bought me a blue Huffy Cranbrook Cruiser, I only rode the Mountain Bike at parks for riding or walking but the Cruiser is for so much more, so I decided I would start going to work on Sundays with the Cruiser, on weekdays I work late and I don't deem it very safe for me to be on a bicycle at 11.30pm on my way home. Tomorrow morning first thing I'll try to get a permit for taking my bicycle on the train and check out if my university owns a bike post, also I have found a group in Puerto Rico that actually gets together at my University the last Fridays of the month to just cruise around on their bikes, I hope I don't have to work on the 30th, I really want to meet them and ride along. Till next time!!!

BTW: I want to name my Cruiser, I'm between Margot or Tilly, what do you think? I'm in the process of customizing, she had a black saddle and complete black grips.