Farewell Look Mum No Hands!

The downturn in the economy really is biting. Many businesses have gone into administration - shops as well as service industries. A café in my local area, Joanna's, which had been a fixture in Crystal Palace since 1978  had to close down. One of the local bike shops in Penge was helped thanks to a crowd-funding campaign by local cyclists when the proprietor received an astronomical fuel bill.

Very sadly, we have now received the news via an Instagram post from the owners of Look Mum No Hands! Cycling café & workshop that this establishment, a mainstay of the London cycling community is closing its doors. This was quite a shock.

I guess it was something that we could have seen coming. Businesses affected by the loss of revenue because of the coronavirus pandemic had previously received subsidies from the government. However, this could only have been a short-term fix, particularly as many businesses in Central London were slow to return to their pre-coronavirus level of commercial activity, if at all.

In the case of the Look Mum No Hands! café and bike workshop a lot of business came from people who worked in the area - whether they were taking in their bikes for repair or to eat at the café. The effect of the pandemic had been for people to change their working patterns, notably by working from home instead of in an office at least part time, if not permanently. 

Sam Humpheson, the head mechanic, and one of the co-founder and owners of the business had told me at times about the decrease in footfall in the area. 

Furthermore, the café had previously hosted events and presentations almost on a weekly basis - be it product launches, parties by cycling clubs, group meet-ups, celebrity interviews, and film screenings. Since the pandemic this level of activity had dropped after people became reticent about attending large gatherings.

To add to that, all businesses have been feeling the pinch over increased business rates, fuel bills and other running costs.

All of the above created the perfect storm which ultimately led to Sam and fellow co-founder-owners Matt Harper and Lewin Chalkley deciding to close the doors on the famous Old Street premises.

This has been a real blow to the cycling community, as could be seen by the thousands of messages across the social media channels. Look Mum No Hands! was a well-known institution not just in the London area, but also in many parts of the UK and beyond. A number of cycling cafés that were set up during the thirteen-year existence of Sam, Matt and Lewin's joint modelled themselves on Look Mum. I remember interviewing a café owner in Harrogate who had the London café in mind when setting up his own establishment. Even more impressive was UpCycle, a Milan-based café-workshop which cited Look Mum as its inspiration in a local newspaper. 

So it is all the more ironic that this cycling café & workshop in Old Street that spawned a new trend in cycling hubs, has now received its own last rites.

My first experience of Look Mum No Hands! was in 2009, almost six months before they opened. A group of local women cycle racers, including myself, Maryka Sennema, Rebecca Slack, Liz Rice, and Charlotte Easton (Sam's then girlfriend) were setting up the London women's cycle racing league. At that point Sam, Matt and Lewin proposed to sponsor our fledgling project. Initially I was as sceptical about the offer as I was about the name they'd be giving to their new business! I had heard about cycling sponsorship deals that had fallen through and I was concerned that we may leave our league exposed to risks. 

Lewin Chalkley (2nd right) with competitors in the London Women's Cycle Racing League in 2010. (L-R: Emma Patterson, Maryka Sennema, Claire Beaumont, Elise Sherwell)

But everyone was excited about this prospective partnership, so we agreed a deal and we had a very fruitful inaugural year with the London Women's Cycle Racing League. So I will always remember the guys at Look Mum No Hands! as having played a significant role in helping local women's cycle racing. 

The cycling café also became very well known very quickly after it opened. I remember attending some pretty fun parties there too. I must also add that Sam is a very competent mechanic, as I found when he serviced my different bikes.

So I am going to miss Look Mum. I am glad to have been there, and been part of that history, and I hope that Sam, Matt and Lewin can feel comforted that with their café-workshop they did make their mark in cycling culture. 

Book review: Where There's A Will - Emily Chappell

Following the success of her debut autobiographical account of life as a cycle messenger, What Goes Around, Emily Chappell's sequel Where There's A Will transitions into the next phase of her cycling life - the slightly more arduous world of ultra-distance cycle racing.

Emily's second book

The story centres around Emily's experiences riding the Transcontinental Cycle race. This cycling challenge starts in Geraadsbergen, Belgium, and sees riders racing around 4,000km to reach a given town in Turkey or Greece.

I can only give an approximate distance because riders don't follow a waymarked route, but plot their own itinerary to get across the various countries between Flanders and The Balkans as quickly as possible.

As the timer is constantly running, riders have to be extremely measured about how many sleep breaks they take, and they can't receive any outside support in advance - meaning that they can't book accommodation or restaurants in advance.

So riders end up carrying all their provisions and food with them, and sleeping in bivouacs in church doorways if they're lucky - otherwise more usually in fields under the stars.

In the early part of the book Emily describes quite vividly how she wills herself along when climbing over Mont Ventoux, in Southern France, after dark in order to reach check-point one, 1000km into the route.

We get an insight into her mind as she battles up this testing iconic 21-km route that is no stranger to crowds of cycling fans cheering on riders in the Tour de France, or riding the route themselves by day. On this occasion, though the route is completely desolate, save for an overeager German journalist who runs alongside Emily for a few minutes, trying to interview her in the pitch black.

Although Emily describes how privileged she felt to have gained this experience she soon describes the deflated, drained feeling of wanting to give up, and how all she can do is cry.

Eventually, after crossing the French Alps, and reaching the second check point in Sestriere, Italy then going down crossing northern Italy, Emily is compelled to pull out of the race in Slovenia after developing chest pain. Nevertheless, this doesn't stop the Cambridge graduate from entering the Transcontinental race in subsequent years and being the first female finisher in 2016.

Emily at the London Bike Show

Throughout the book you get a real sense of goodwill from others along the way - whether it is from other riders from the world of ultra-distance cycling, strangers in the different towns and countries she traverses, or social media messages of support from the thousands of  "dot watchers" who follow her progress from her GPS tracker.

As Emily details her adventures in other races and her subsequent visits to the Transcontinental race you really want to will her along and hope that she makes it through the event and you live her emotions with her - be they the anxiety of another competitor about to catch her, the elation of winning, the nagging pains in different parts of her body from riding 300km in a day, and the grief following the death of her friend and Transcontinental founder, Mike Hall in 2017.

I enjoyed reading this book, which gives you an insight into the minds of the various characters such as Juliana Buhring, Mike Hall, and Kristof Allegaert, who seemingly won't get out of bed to ride a bike for less than 4,000km.

The story goes a little bit forwards and backwards in terms of its chronology of events and at times I did get a little confused about what year was being referred to, but don't let that stop you from understanding and enjoying this niche world of ultra-distance cycle racing.

Although I am not especially tempted to get into this cycling discipline, which appears to be gaining traction among keen cyclists, I do take from the book the analogies with life and dealing with the challenges that get thrown at you. And that makes Where There's A Will a worthwhile read.

From the book, it's not clear to me what drives Emily to repeatedly do these two-week long bike rides where you survive on whatever food you can grab from a local shop, or occasionally leftovers of someone's meal in bar when in a one-horse village in Montenegro, then getting soaked and sleeping in a cemetery, wearing the same clothes for a few days on the trot without getting a wash, and sometimes having a cry here and there.

When I asked Emily about her drive, during her book launch at the Look Mum No Hands cycle cafe, she said it was really down to the wish to push herself to the ultimate limits, seeing how far she can go, and learning to cope with those situations. I have a lot of admiration for that.

In parts of the book Emily also refers to a lost love. I can't confirm exactly who is referred to at these moments, but I do think about the part in What Goes Around in which Emily breaks up with a girlfriend, and says "I don't think I ever cried over our break-up. I just kept riding."

Emily (top right) at the book launch with cycling journalists and writers (credit: Look Mum No Hands)

Could it be that these biking exploits may be a de facto way of dealing with those down moments in life such as break-ups and grief?

Whatever your thoughts are on bike riding or ultra-distance cycle racing I would recommend Where There's A Will. It is an engrossing read, and I would say it's an analogy for life with all its up and downs, albeit over a 4,000km-bike ride between here and Turkey.


Where There's A Will, Emily Chappell. 2019 (Publisher: Profile Books Ltd.) ; Hardback, £12.99.


A few words from the author

I posed Emily Chappell a few questions around Where There's A Will:

When thinking about your biking adventure and recalling it in the book how has this changed you as a person?

You could say that racing has changed me, or you could say that it simply removed some of the impediments that were preventing me from being my full self. Hurling myself across Europe, and having to deal with anything that came up, meant that I got very good at looking after myself, at keeping a clear head and thinking my way through any tight spots I got into. I’m now more confident, more capable, and far less likely to be held back by fear or self-doubt.

When writing the book was your intention to inspire people, help them if they're coping with a difficult situation, or was it just a straightforward tale of your cycling adventures?

I didn’t set out to write a self-help book, though I know, given some of the topics I’ve touched on, that some people will find it inspiring or comforting. My main motivation, I think, was to make sense of the experiences I’d had, to find ways of explaining them to myself, and to create a cycling narrative that was different from the others I’d read.

Emily's first book

How does this writing process, and where you were emotionally compare with "What Goes Around"?

The writing process was similar in some ways. Because I’d been through the highs and lows of book-writing once before, it wasn’t necessarily easier, but I knew what to expect, and that I’d get through the times where it felt like the end of the world. (There are such strong parallels with an ultra-distance bike race.) 

The main difference was that I was writing about an emotional journey that was still ongoing. My friend Mike, who features in the book, died when I was in the early stages of writing it, and the grieving process and the writing process became entwined together.

What similarities would you say there are between the world of cycle couriers and that of ultra distance cyclists? They both seem to be quite particular activities that involve testing situations from what I can see.

The main similarity – and the way in which I think my years as a courier best prepared me for ultra-racing – is that you become accustomed to getting up every day and getting on the bike, no matter how tired, unhappy, injured or reluctant you are, and no matter what the weather’s doing. You don’t consider whether or not it’s a good idea – you just do it. And both couriering and ultra-racing have a strong community around them, with a wonderful diversity of people. It’s one of the best bits.

And on that note, would you say you just enjoy the trials and tribulations of cycling? 

I do. All the good bits, and all the bad bits too. I can’t imagine my life without bikes.


Emily on the Radio
Emily on Robert Elms Show, BBC Radio London 15th November 2019

Emily on Saturday Live, BBC Radio 4, 7th Decembver 2019 (~45 minutes into the show)


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Women of Colour cycling group - is it necessary?

Look Mum No Hands! Cafe in London holds various types of events and regular meet-ups. One group they have formed is a Women of Colour meet-up. The first meeting was held in December of last year, and another meeting took place a few days ago. It will now become a monthly event.

First Women of Colour cycling group at Look Mum No Hands

I went to the first one, as I was a little curious to see how the meet-up went, and as someone who likes to meet different people in cycling I was looking forward to meeting new folks. Also, being an experienced bike rider and someone quite involved in the cycling community I was looking forward to sharing lots of information about the cycling scene and giving tips to anyone wanting advice.

This group was an initiative borne out of an article written by a woman who bemoaned the fact that she hardly saw any women of colour when she took part in the Ride London 100 last summer. She also claimed to have encountered white MAMILS (middle-aged men in lycra) who gave her "uncomfortable gazes" at the cycle event, or "microagressions" from white males as they overtook her when commuting.

This was then picked up on by the likes of Jools Walker (aka Lady Velo), Jenni Gwiazdowski and Ayesha McGowan, an Afro-American bidding to become the first black female professional racer, who felt that there was a need to group together black women who don't feel that they can get into cycling because they don't see anyone who looks like them.

As someone who has known Jools since 2011, when I interviewed her at the Tweed Run cycle ride for Cycling Weekly magazine, I felt I would support her cause, so I attended the event. (I arrived a bit late as I had been at fitness class that evening.)

There were quite a few women, including Ayesha McGowan who linked up to the meeting from her home in the United States via Skype. Although I missed the early part of the meeting it seemed that a lot of the women talked about how they never received encouragement to get into cycle riding, and felt uncomfortable when they did group rides because they didn't feel they identified with anyone.

Some felt they were ignored, and didn't feel confident about getting involved; others talked about being passed over by marketing companies to become brand ambassadors, or that black women cycling are not represented in the media.

While I believe every word of what the women say, I still find it hard to say that there is a racial or discrimination problem, or even that black women are excluded from getting into cycling.

That has not been my experience at all, and I have never perceived any barriers to entry or discrimination.

No one in my family was particularly into cycling apart from me. My dad bought a Peugeot bike in the 80s and I had a go on it a few times, but generally my parents didn't like me cycling. I have two sisters, neither of whom ride a bike and have never shown a particular interest in doing so even though they are aware of all the activity I do on two wheels.

I grew up in an area where we were the only black family. There were local people who were happy for me to join their cycling groups, however I didn't have the means to join in as they would meet up far from where I lived.

My dad wouldn't let me use his bike, and in any case living in a remote village in Yorkshire with no public transport, where the nearest cycling group was 10 miles away, meant I couldn't join in. My parents were certainly not going to let me cycle all the way there. And there was no way they would encourage me, as a teenager to ride on public roads. They were quite against the idea of "serious cycling".

Over the years I did bits and pieces of cycling, as described in my 52 Cycling Voices, and eventually got into regular club cycling almost 20 years ago and have really enjoyed it since. Various people have given me support and encouragement with my cycling - men, women, black people, white people, including MAMILS!

Through cycling I got into journalism and testing out kit for brands. It is true that I have only seen a few black men out cycling, and practically no black women, but I never saw it as a problem and I assumed that if they were interested in cycling they would have come along to the different activities. After all, I was taking part - and if I could take part, anyone can. The number of black women in cycling is slowly increasing now though.

The thing is, I still can't say that the lack of black people cycling should be a barrier to entry.

In fact the biggest barriers I have faced were from my own folks! My parents did not want me to ride, thinking it was too dangerous. My dad always used to say people who cycle on public roads just want to kill themselves!

My mum couldn't understand why anyone would want to ride more than a few miles if they could travel around by car. Black women that I met when I moved to London found it a bit strange that I would like to ride a bike. At dinner parties, mentioning bike riding was more of a conversation stopper!

Dinner party host: "Did you find the place okay?"
Me: "Yes, I cycled over - it was quite straightforward."
Dinner party host: "Hmm.... I never understand cyclists - they always get in the way on the road."

When I was growing up, getting around by bicycle was seen as something you did because you didn't have access to a car. Doing recreational bike riding as a child is fair enough. But cycling around as an adult was just a sign of failure - that you hadn't managed to find a job that paid you enough to buy a car! Moreover, people wanted to show off their wealth by having a decent car. Not a Ford or a Hyundai - an Audi or BMW at least!
My parents just didn't understand the concept of cycling as a sport, and they were not the only black people to think like that. It just seemed to be a cultural thing to not specifically opt to ride a bike as a mode of transport or for leisure. Some black men would consider it - my dad was among those since he did buy a racing bike - but black women would never dream of doing it.

I would say this cultural tendency was a bigger barrier to entry for me, than any white MAMIL! I too have done the Ride London 100 a few times, and never got any strange looks from anyone. In fact for a while I joined a chain of guys who didn't mind me being there and I hung on until my legs turned to lead after Leith Hill!

Finish line of the 2017 Ride London 100 

People have been saying "if you can't see it, you can't be it," meaning that you can't become something if you don't see people who look like you doing it. I can't say I identify with that phrase at all.

Fair enough, if I had seen other black women cycling I may or may not have found it inspiring. In any case, there were no such sights when I was a child. (If there had been, what is there to say that another black woman is "like me". Just because we are both black doesn't mean that we are the same, or have anything in common!)

How would a white man feel if they were told that they looked like Nigel Farage or Prince William or Brad Pitt! Or white woman being told she looks like Katie Price, or Adele or Fiona Bruce. No one would ever lump all these people into one unit and say that they look like each other. So why folks refer to black people in similar terms just has me at a loss. Anyone who says black people all look like each other would be accused of being racist, but yet this is the premise that is being used when discussing getting into cycling. And as for forming a group based on people's colour - really?

I still got inspired into bike riding when I saw a few of the young local men on road bikes around South Yorkshire, or the men on TV riding the Tour de France.

These Italians, Spanish or Irish guys who looked nothing like me still made me dream of riding up a mountain pass in Europe - and I eventually did so for the first time on a Graham Baxter Sports Tours training camp in Spain in 2000. I was the only black person in the party of around 60 participants, but it didn't bother me one jot. And I had fun on that trip.

At no point did I ever feel that I should join a group of other black female cyclists, or black cyclists. I have only ever been interested in joining groups of pleasant people I can get on with, who have similar interests to mine. I find it hard to see how being black and female would be the basis for forming any group.

There are various statistics around cycling. According to Cycling UK, in 2017 4% of the population rode their bike more than once a week, and 5% rode between two and five times a week.

White people were three times more likely than people of South Asian and Chinese origin to cycle more than three times a week, rising to four times more likely than people of black origin.

Another Cycling UK survey reported 8% of women in the UK describe themselves as regular cyclists (compared with 20% of men). So the figures for black women who cycle, will naturally be very low.

There are various explanations for the low number of women cyclists; it can be because of such issues around confidence and negative experiences on the road from motorists - things which aren't race-specific.

A survey by Transport for London did cite family responsibilities such as caring for children and other family members as a barrier to cycling for some ethnic minority women.

I am not querying these statistics, but for me the bottom line is and will always be about not allowing reports and statistics to bog me down, and just getting out there and doing the thing I want to do.

As for the other points around representation, brand ambassadors or finding cycling groups where one can feel comfortable, there are various responses to that.

Transport for London marketing photo

On representation: Many years ago, when I first got into racing, British Cycling published a full-page photograph of me in action in their events calendar. I was wearing full club kit, with my race face on. It was quite a shock to see my mug plastered next to "March", but one can't say I was invisible!

Some years after that I was photographed along with a few others as part of a marketing campaign for the old Sky Rides. I regularly see photos of black women in Transport for London's marketing materials on cycling.

Plus, as a writer for the former Time Inc magazine, Cycling Active I was regularly featured in photo shoots to accompany the feature articles I wrote.

So I find it hard to say there is no representation. In fact, considering that black people make up only 5% of the UK population, and black women represent an even lower number than that, it wouldn't be realistic to expect to see loads of women of colour in a campaign - particularly as so few ride a bike anyway.

If black women would want to see themselves represented more in cycling campaigns, then more black women need to get out on their bikes. The facilities are available for them to take up cycling.

There are Breeze Rides, Cycling UK rides, Regional women's cycling groups on-line forums, and a Velovixen forum specifically for women cyclists. There is no reason for any woman to say there are no opportunities to cycle - regardless of race.

I, myself set up a women's local cycle racing group with some other women in 2010. We appealed to women of all levels to join, and we organised rides for beginners too. We marketed this on-line and through the cycling media, but no black women turned up. Now I was racing at the time, and was regularly photographed racing, as well as writing updates about the races in the cycling media; therefore one can't say I was invisible.

So much for "If you can't see it, you can't be it"! There was every possibility for those black women who wanted to try cycling, to have a go - particularly as we had groups for beginners.

As for ambassador programmes - that is extremely competitive for anyone who applies. With hundreds of applicants, the odds of being selected are always going to be stacked against you, particularly as marketing managers want to see specific evidence that an individual's cycling activity fits with the essence of their brand, as well as them having a social media following. There are plenty of white people whose applications are rejected!

Getting into club cycling and doing it regularly is not especially easy for anyone, regardless of gender, race or the level people would like to achieve. You may well have to go out of your comfort zone at times, as well as reading and researching around the subject.

That is just part and parcel of trying any new physically demanding activity. I am not saying that prejudices and issues don't exist in society, but I am inclined first to remember that we have a responsibility to put in the effort if we want to achieve an outcome, and we shouldn't be so quick to attribute difficulties in progressing, to society somehow excluding groups of people.

So from a personal standpoint, a specific cycling group for black women isn't really necessary. Such groups that set me apart because of my colour give me a feeling at best that I have some sort of special need because I'm not like other folks (which I don't believe is the case), and at worst someone is trying to bring back Apartheid!

I won't completely rule out going along to these meet-ups if there are specific people I would like to talk to there.

However, I am not interested in joining a moan-fest of people talking about being downtrodden, excluded, second class citizens, the struggle, blah blah blah.

At the meet-up there was talk of organising rides, and I would be happy to do some - though my rides will be defined by the terrain, route and level/speed, and not by people of a particular race or colour. They will be open to any woman (or man even) who wants to come along.



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Photo shoot in the Chilterns

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52 Cycling Voices - 22: Jenni Gwiazdowski

Jenni is well-known in the cycling scene in London, having made her name through the London Bike Kitchen that she runs and it featured on BBC Radio 4's Women's Hour last year.

In addition, she mans the desk at the WheelSuckers podcast along with Alex Davis. Oh, and she's the author of How to Build a Bike: Simple Guide to Making Your Own Ride. I have known of Jenni for a few years but funnily enough, it was only recently that I got to speak to her at length when I went to a women of colour cyclists' meet-up at Look Mum No Hands! So while there, I thought I'd find out a bit more about her.

Jenni Gwiadowski, aged 39

From: San Diego, California, USA

Lives: London

Occupation: Founder and Director of London Bike Kitchen

Jenni at Look Mum No Hands!

Well we always biked when we were kids…but I’m originally from San Diego, California where there is a strong car culture. The minute I turned 15 I got my license, started driving and I didn’t really touch a bike again until I was 24 when I was living in Japan (My mother is Japanese and my father is Polish.)

I moved to Japan to teach English, and the school I was at gave me a bicycle as my transport – an old sit-up-and-beg bike - and I was like, "What is this? I haven’t ridden this since I was a kid." But then riding it became the smartest way to get around as I was in a small town in the countryside. Cycling turned a 20-minute walk into a 5-minute bike ride. 

It was fun, I was on my own schedule, and I was outside. It wasn’t until I moved to London 11 years ago, that I started to identify myself as a cyclist, because I feel like here you are definitely in a minority and you’ve got to stick together.

You really, like stick up for other cyclists as well, and connect with other people who ride.

When comparing cycling in the different places I've lived, San Diego is very similar to London in terms of volume of cars. I really like cycling on the continent, as I feel like drivers are way more respectful over there. 

In Japan people are very respectful. You don’t need infrastructure because the infrastructure is in their minds. Everyone is really respectful, and you can ride on the pavement and it’s fine because people just do that….and you can ride on the road and it’s totally fine because the cars are really polite and everyone is just aware – almost hyperaware. Whereas here it’s like you’re on your own. You’ve gotta fend for yourself.

I’m the founder, director and benevolent dictator, and janitor at London Bike Kitchen. I set it up about seven and a half years ago and we opened a year later.

I guess my reasons for starting it were personally selfish. I really wanted to learn how to build my own bike and there was no classroom space to learn how to do that. So I thought, I’m just going to set it up. I’m going to make it so I can learn how to build my own bike. 

Director, benevolent dictator and janitor outside LBK - Jenni does it all! 

I was pretty sure other people wanted to learn as well. But I also realised I love bike riding and when I used to send my bike off to the bike shop to get fixed I was not really sure what they were doing and I felt disempowered by that experience. 

So I thought to myself,"Well I can change a puncture, I can now change my brake pads, I feel good about being able to do that. What if I can do more? Surely that’s gonna make me feel better." That was an additional incentive to become a mechanic and set up this space where it’s all about education.

I consider myself a mechanic now but there are different areas of expertise when it comes to bike mechanics. There’s definitely some things that I can’t do, like I can’t do hydraulic disc brakes. The ironic thing is we do a class on that, so I have to attend our own classes! But I can be great with quarter pins – like old bike stuff. So although I do consider myself to be a mechanic I am not some all-knowing all-seeing mechanic, though I know my way around a bike.

London Bike Kitchen is aimed for everybody, but right at the very start I knew I wanted to do a separate women’s night because I just don’t see other females working in the bike industry, especially not as mechanics and you don’t see a lot of women riding bikes. And I feel like they’re related. 

It wasn’t actually me who started the sessions for women, it was another person who had seen a blog post I wrote even before Bike Kitchen opened in 2011 and they contacted me and said they wanted to set up this women’s night, and they were gender variant and didn’t identify as being female, but they weren’t male either. So I told them they could take ownership of that project and decide how they wanted to present it. 

So they decided to call it Women And Gender-variant, kind of playing on the WAG acronym which is pretty derogatory I think, but I don’t know it because I’m American. But here, wives and girlfriends is not considered a good thing. So they helped create the space and we experimented with how often we should do it and how long it should be, what should we cover, what are the logistics of it. 

It took us probably about a year before we figured out the magic formula of twice a month - every second and fourth Monday from 6.30pm until 9pm. We have a set schedule that comes out every six months that lists everything that we are covering, so it gives people a sense of security when they come in – because it’s a really foreign environment. 

Going into a bike workshop is weird for most people – it’s going to be really weird for women, so we are trying to remove as many mental blocks – as many barriers as we can.

The first year we opened we were getting like one, maybe two people coming, and it was really sad. But we kept pressing on, because we thought this is a good idea and we just have to find the right way to do it. 

Now we’re getting maybe 10 people coming to each session, so we're doing okay now. Our space is pretty small so it feels really crowded, but it works.

Being featured on BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour helped raise the profile. They got in touch with us because of our WAG nights. I don't listen to Woman's Hour so I wasn't really star struck. But it was great having all these different women in the cycling world come to the shop!  

Wheelsuckers Podcast with Ned Boulting

With Alex Davis I form half of the Wheelsuckers podcast. I’m the stoker, Alex is the Captain. She steers the whole thing while I’m just the engine in the back.

It’s really fun. It’s hard work but we form a good team. Neither of us would be able do it alone. I think Alex does have the hard work, with all the editing, but I think she likes it!

We are always researching ideas for who to invite as guests on the Wheelsuckers Podcast, since we are both active on social media so we’re always kind of aware of what’s going on. The most interesting podcast we did was the one with Ninon Asuni. She's a very knowledgeable bike mechanic and one of my personal heroes. Currently we're hoping to interview Dr Rachel McKinnon, the first transgender woman to win a World Championship race. We hope to interview her next year. That will be an amazing opportunity. 

We also like to interview Ayesha McGowan [who is bidding to become the first African American female to race for a UCI road team] every time she comes into town. I remember seeing her when the BBC did a video on her and I was like…."this woman’s amazing"….I need to follow her, and then suddenly a year later I’m interviewing her - WTF?

On the back of Ayesha talking about under-representation of women of colour in cycling Jools Walker and myself organised a women of colour get-together at Look Mum No Hands!. I thought it was great.

The first women of colour meet-up

Before our first meet-up me and Jools were so nervous. We didn’t know who would turn up or what we were going to be doing. We had no plan. We just wanted people to get together and talk. That’s all it was. 

It's been so nice for people to come together and share their thoughts, ideas and hardships. you know we will definitely be meeting up again, and getting some rides out of it.

It’s hard to say where my favourite location is to ride as there are so many great places. I did have a really amazing bike packing trip last summer. 

We were in the forests of Burgundy off-road for four days, and it was amazing just camping and cycling. 

You don’t go very far on a mountain bike but you don’t need to because everything around you is beautiful.

Then we’d pop into the town and get some food, and we'd always get a bottle of wine.

Whenever I go cycling, I never go out without my Happy Bottom Bum Butter chamois cream. It's great. I can't live without it! 

To anyone who wants to get into cycling  I'd say get some cycle training. Four of us do free cycle training in the London area. 

If you are not based in London, your local authority may run cycle training sessions. Otherwise find a friend who rides a bike and just go out with them and make it fun. 

Always do baby steps. Don’t go out thinking you have to know everything at once; you’re always going be learning. 
Hashtag never not learning. That’s my saying. You will always be learning. 

Twitter/Instagram: @money_melon
Twitter/Instagram: @LDNBikeKitchen
Twitter/Instagram: @WheelSuckersPod


Other Cycling Voices
Alex Davis

Ayesha McGowan

Rochelle Gilmore

Tracy Moseley

Geraldine Glowinski

Emily Chappell

Michelle Webster

Carolyn Hewett-Maessen

Niusha Doyom

Maria David

My Tour of Lombardy: Upcycle

Last weekend I spent time in Lombardy, Northern Italy. My base was in Milan, which was handy as my plan had been to go to visit places that were north and south of the city.

You may or may not know, dear reader, that I spent around 18 months in Milan a few years ago. It was when I had a medical copywriting job in an advertising agency over there, so I know the city well. I have fond memories, and left behind some cool friends. So I do like to get back there at least once a year - more if I could.

So this was my trip for 2018. As with the previous trips I've been on it was a fun-packed weekend, and always hard to fit in everything I want to do, and visit all the folks and places I want to see.

A Cinelli hire bike from the nearby Biciclette Rossignoli bike shop

The first thing I did on my arrival, after picking up my hire car, was to set up my bike and take it for a quick spin around the city just to be sure that everything was working okay. I have hired a nice road bike in the past from Biciclette Rossignoli in central Milan. I have also hired from a firm near Como.

Both outfits supply very good quality bikes, though I chose to bring my trusty Boardman because I was not sure what my movements would be and I thought that the shops might be closed on the day that I wanted to return the hire bike. Having said that, I would certainly recommend a renting, particularly if you want to try out a Cinelli or a Pinarello bike which might be nicer than your own road bike!

Being based in Rogoredo was convenient for me because it meant parking was not an issue, and I was close to the ring road (known as the Tangenziale) for when I wanted to leave the city.
However, it meant that my bike ride would just be around fairly ordinary neighbourhoods that didn't go near tourist attractions or anywhere noteworthy. I think that once you're outside the small central zone of the Duomo, Castello Sforzesco, Brera, Colonne San Lorenzo, and the Navigli everything else is pretty drab.

Naviglio Grande - one of the nicer parts of Milan

In fact, if you took a wrong turn you'd end up on a dirt track - apparently a road - called via dei Pestagalli which is quite a depressing sight, with disused industries and condemned buildings. I wouldn't recommend going there after dark!

So my ride was a pretty quick spin through the city limits up to the Naviglio Pavese and then across some creative roadworks just to tickle the Naviglio Grande, before turning back to make it in time to meet Filippo, the landlord of the studio I'd be staying in.

My evening was spent at Upcycle, a bicycle cafe that is basically Milan's answer to Look Mum No Hands! cafe on Old Street, London. Just as I went to the launch night of Look Mum Hands! back in 2010, I went to the opening night of Upcycle in 2013. Upcycle has very much the same feel as Look Mum. They are in similar kinds of areas - a little bit away from the centre of the city, but in up-and-coming hip neighbourhoods.

Upcycle bike cafe, Milan

Both venues frequently hold events about all aspects of cycling, and show major bike events on a big screen. The interiors are decorated with cycling-themed memorabilia, where you can have meals and snacks at rustic-style communal tables. Where Look Mum gives a nod to Belgian beers, Upcycle leans towards Scandinavian food. Look Mum has a bicycle workshop with mechanics, while Upcycle has a large space adjoining the cafe, used for holding events with conference-style audiences.

So Upcycle is where I was on the Thursday night. A book launch took place that evening, and it was quite a big event for the people from Team Cassinis Cycling Team, the club I joined while I lived there. A member of the team, Martin Angioni, had just written a book called 98 Reasons Why I Cycle (Le 98 Ragioni per cui Vado in Bicicletta), so this was his big gig. Mario Cocco, the club president interviewed him on stage, and read excerpts from the book, while making jokes.

Martin Angioni's book which I one day hope to read

I've gotta say I was pretty tired, after only having had a couple of hour's sleep the night before, and being my first day in Italy my Italian was very rusty to say the least! So I think I probably only caught half of what was being said - and that was partly because I did nod off at times.

I'm sure it was very interesting, but my bad - this was not the best day for me to attend a function that was exclusively in Italian! Still, it was a better effort than the last time I was in Milan and was meant to go to Upcycle for an event. On that day I similarly only had a couple of hours' sleep and then went on a long bike ride on my arrival. So when I arrived at my studio I was so tired I fell asleep and completely missed the evening event at Upcycle! [Note to oneself - don't go to bed at 2.30am when you've got a 7am flight!]

On this occasion, it was great to get there and see Barbara Bonori, who had been the women's cycling coordinator when I was in Team Cassinis, and who had organised the book launch, along with the publishers. She also organised a bike ride from the Vigorelli Velodrome up to Madonna del Ghisallo, which was due to take place a week later. Unfortunately I was not going to be in Milan for that.

I also met a woman who is the European Marketing Manager for Cinelli bikes. They are based just outside Milan, and it would have been really nice to see them and check out their bikes. That is something that I will definitely be doing on my next trip.

Then there were other familiar faces that I saw from the days when I rode with Cassinis, and I said a few words to them, including to Roberta and Massimo from Cicli Esposito.

So, although it had been a long day for me, and a testing evening for me, from a stamina point of view for me, it had been a good day and I was very happy to have met the old guys. Hopefully, it won't be too long before I see them again, I can spend more time with them, and my Italian will just roll off the tongue - facilemente!


Related posts
First club run in Milan

Giro dei Navigli (Canals of Milan) - 1

Giro dei Navigli (Canals of Milan) - 2

What I like about Milan

What I don't like about Milan

52 Cycling Voices - 20: Alex Davis

Meet the woman behind all the cool events that happen at Look Mum No Hands! café, in London. Alex Davis, events manager extraordinaire, joint presenter of the WheelSuckers Podcast (with the London Bike Kitchen), and Alex does a bit of burlesque on the side too.

I first met Alex a few years ago, when she kindly donated prizes from Look Mum No Hands! for a cycling competition that myself and a few colleagues organised at our workplace.

As someone who has seen Look Mum No Hands! evolve from its larval stages in 2009 I am very impressed with how the outfit has become a well-known hang-out for cyclists in London and beyond. That's thanks in no small part to Alex's tireless work. This is what she has to say about her work (and her play).


Alexandra Fanny Davis, Aged 32

From: Colchester

Lives: London

Occupation: Social Media, Marketing and Events Manager at Look Mum No Hands! café

"I got into cycling as I grew up on a tandem with my dad, in Colchester. He used to take me to school on one. I used to crap myself, it was awful. People used to sing at me and shout at me. I don’t know really why he did it. We also went to Tandemania, a tandem cycling holiday in Wales. There were over a hundred other people on tandems and I was there with my dad. It was funny really.

I always rode a bike as a kid, but when I went to uni I stopped cycling. Then I moved to Cambridge, a cycling city, and it made sense to do it there. It was quicker and easier to get round the city. So I got back into cycling then really, and I've never really stopped. Cycling is fun, and it’s easy to get around.

I am more of a commuter cyclist, really, and I love Victoria Park. Today was beautiful. I had to come in really early, and as I rode through the park at around 6.30 this morning it was full of wildlife – squirrels and pigeons, but there were also wild parakeets. I saw a whole pandemonium of them among the flowers, in the sunshine. Victoria Park is great.

Never without my backpack

I never go cycling without my portable charger and my backpack. My backpack is really stupidly big. There was a period when I got annoyed with it, but now I love it, because it’s massive and I can fit everything in. I always have that with me.

I guess what I like about cycling is you get to meet some really fun, weird people around the place. Sometimes you end up with a group of people and everyone seems a bit odd! But they are all super super nice.

The cycling scene back home in Colchester was tiny when I lived there. I think there were just five of us! I don’t hang out there anymore now, but a lot of people I know from Colchester live in London, including Ben Broomfield a photographer from Bespoke. 

There’s a good scene in Cambridge though. I met a load of fixie kids there. They were all there wearing their little shorts, riding bikes with no brakes, looking the coolest thing ever. All of us bikers get into cycling in different ways and I find that a lot of us never really stop. Why would you stop cycling? Why would you get the tube or drive a car in the city? OK, I get the tube once a week so I can listen to a podcast.

I’ve been at Look Mum No Hands! for four years now. I got the job when they tweeted that they were looking for a PR. The job description basically said, “Just don’t be a dick”, and they kept tweeting that a lot.

I was living in Colchester at the time, and my friends had had a cycling café inspired by Look Mum No Hands!, where I helped them run their Facebook and Twitter accounts. It was a small café called Chapeau but it’s not around anymore, and one of the owners went on to become a bike framebuilder. 

I thought Look Mum No Hands! was the coolest thing ever, and so I really wanted to go for the PR job when they were looking for one. My interview was quite funny because Sam (Humpheson) and they guys just kept saying, “We don’t want a typical PR bellend or dick. We just want to keep it real.”

I got the job, along with a guy, Sam Brooks. He was very much more of your typical male road cyclist, where I was just a woman that likes cycling, but not a racer. He left, though I am still friends with him. I guess I’ve stuck around because I just like cycling in general. Look Mum No Hands! has been supporting women’s cycling and doing stuff that’s inclusive, but in my full-time role this has just grown and grown, as the owners have been giving me more and more things to do.

Full house for a Specialized event featuring Dame Kelly Holmes

To be honest, I don't have to come up with ideas for the events held at Look Mum No Hands! these days. More and more, people are coming to me proposing events to host at the café. They approach me saying what they’d like to do, I say yes and after that I just put up the microphones, set up the chairs and advertise it on-line. We hold talks, exhibitions, book launches, maintenance workshops, even dating events and knitting. 

For instance, Kat (Jungnickel) messaged me about her Bikes and Bloomers book launch about two years ago. She'd been working on her book for years, and asked if we would be part of it, and we said “Of course!” It's kind of mad now that this has actually happened. We had 153 people signed up for that event, which was amazing.

Models at the Bikes and Bloomers book launch

The weirdest event we've done was Bike Smut, which was basically porno with bikes. It was a worldwide film festival of full-on hardcore porno made by people who love bikes and sex. They’ve been touring all over the world doing it. 

Some people were doing porno stuff with bikes, on bikes, maybe turning into bikes. It was fun, but really weird. We had to tape and cover up the windows, it was 18+ only, with ID on the door and we made sure everyone who turned up had paid. I was so proud of that because it was so weird but more than 100 people came.

At Look Mum No Hands! I also look after social media – Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and their website. I am also proud of how we have used social media to promote diversity. At Christmas we did our Gifs that keep on Giving campaign. We used Jools Walker (aka Lady Velo), and my friend Dario’s, friend John Ku. Jools is a woman of colour and John is Korean, and I  did a photo shoot with them, producing gifs, to launch a campaign featuring people that you don't always see in cycling.

The campaign was triggered after I did a podcast with Jenny from Bike Kitchen, and we met the African American cycle racer, Ayesha McGowan last year. I remember her saying brands should include more diversity, and that really struck me. I thought, "Yes I need to do more of that." So that’s what I’ve been trying to work more on. It’s not hard to get a camera out and ask different people to get their picture taken and put it on social media.

I really like Look Mum. I see it as a space where plenty of non-cyclists can come to. We get a lot of people who ask, “Am I allowed to come in even though I don’t cycle?” and I’m like “Yes! Of course!”

We get a real mix of people coming into the café. You get the cyclists and they come in wearing their Lycra, leaving their bikes in the doorway and that’s a bit annoying; then you get the non-cyclists and they come in and they’re all a bit nervous. I think it’s really fun that everyone fits in the same space. You can be in an area shared with someone that does something you’re not really used to, you try to work it out, and then you peak into the workshop, ask questions, and look at the bikes on display.

All the time we hear about bike cafés being set up and modelled on Look Mum. There’s one in Leicester that's just started up (Café Ventoux). A lot of places now have a Look Mum No Hands!-type café. One thing is that we do have a fully functioning workshop with four full-time mechanics, and it is a full-on café; we’re banging out coffee in the morning, we’re doing lunch, food in the evening, and beer. It’s great how they’ve managed to merge all that extremely well. A lot of other cafés have just taken elements of what we do.

We weren’t the first type of café like this – I think the first one was called Lock 7, in Hackney – but we are one of the longest standing, as we have been going since 2010.

I know it sounds like a stupid name for a café, but I love telling people I work for a cycling café. They ask which one, and when I say the cafe is Look Mum No Hands! I enjoy the looks on their faces, when they look quizzically and say “What?”

Looking to the future we have to think about how we stand out so that we can keep going and survive! There are so many cafés opening up nearby now, and I think in London good quality food and drink is not a standard, it’s a given. And even though Look Mum have been doing quality food and drink since the start, I think that that no longer makes you stand out. But we have a workshop, and we have to work to keep the place strong, and be on top of our game. There are so many moving parts to manage.

Outside of cycling and working at Look Mum No Hands! I do burlesque shows, which I’ve been doing for five years now. My niece, who is older than me used to be a Suicide Girl. It’s an on-line lifestyle brand where you can be an alternative pin-up with tattoos and piercings. On their website you have your own profile, and you can make money from having people look at your profile and she was really into that. She then said she wanted to get into burlesque, so I said, “Cool, me too!”

We were in Colchester at the time and advertised for members to join our group. Two other women turned up, one who used to be a stripper, and the other one was a burlesque dancer who had moved up from Cornwall to Colchester. The four of us formed a troop, and we did a show. Loads of people came, and it was fun even though we didn’t really know what we were doing! Then we did more shows for about three years.

Women at the forefront - Alex (right) does Burlesque  

When I moved to London I had a break from it, as it is very hard work and you don’t earn a lot of money. But I have restarted it, combining it with video games and I really love it.

At the Bike Smut evening I did a routine that was based on a suffragette theme in which I have a really big dress on, a hat, carrying a “Votes for Women” sign, and I can’t get on the bike because of my outfit. So I take my clothes off and am naked from the waist down – then I ride the bike. 

It was inspired by Poppy Cox, organiser of Bike Smut, who I saw doing a similar routine. In her version she gets off her bike and talks about how women and the Suffragettes wanted to ride bicycles and have independence. Taking their restrictive clothing off was a way of gaining that freedom. I tell a lot of people that bikes were the vehicle that helped a lot of women gain more independence.

It’s really fun to do an activity where women are at the forefront of the scene, and not objectified. The funny thing is that in my day job I champion women, trying to get more women into that scene, while with burlesque, I am championing men and trying to get them involved. You hardly get any male burlesque performers. It’s not frowned upon, but men just don’t feel it’s for them.

At my last show I did have two guys – one I'd met in a strip club, who was in drag, and the other is a friend of a friend who came to one of my previous shows and begged to be a part of it. They had never performed before, and I gave them the stage and they were amazing. It is really fun how my work and my play manage to alternate with each other." 


Upcoming events at Look Mum No Hands!:

Interview with Ned Boulting - 5th September

"I like Alf" book launch - 26th September

Cycle Speed Dating - 14th October

Alex's next Burlesque event:
Video Game Burlesque: Show Me Your Moves - 6th September

Twitter accounts:
Alex Fanny Davis - @Singyamatokun
Look Mum No Hands! - @1ookmumnohands
WheelSuckersPodcast - @WheelSuckersPod
Helles Belles Burlesque - @HBBurlesque


Other Cycling Voices
Helen Wyman

Sarah Strong

Rebecca Charlton

Ayesha McGowan

Geraldine Glowinski

Emily Chappell

Hannah Bussey

Maria David

Specialized event photo from Look Mum No Hands website.
Bikes and Bloomers event photo by Maria David.
All other photos from Alex's facebook page.