take two; an eventful day out at the velodrome

So it is the second day of my 30 days of bicycling pledge 
and today I am doing something really quite brave and also 
quite scary, in fact I am facing quite a few firsts... 
 

First time traveling with my bike on the train by myself  
(as I typed that my bike fell over and hit an off duty 
ticket conductor, sigh) Anyway I was about to add, only 
my second ever trip on the train with a bike, God this 
trains bumpy! And there appears to be nowhere to wedge 
bikes. Also my first time cycling in London. Alone. 
And my first time riding in a velodrome.

 

Right so on to the velodrome...



 
I have been asked to take part in a HLF funded documentary 
about female cyclists, celebrating the history of Herne 
Hill velodrome. The plan is for me to cycle round in costume, 
while being asked questions, should be interesting...


 
So the Pashley and I trundle along to London and head out to 
Herne Hill, the journey went fairly smoothly, And I discovered 
that a bike can travel by escalator, we also enjoyed the view 
of the Thames and London bridge through the windows of our 
cramped train.


 
Arriving safety at Herne Hill, I was met by Charlotte, the films 
director. I spend the afternoon, cycling round and round answering 
questions in a range of different costumes. Thankfully the sun came 
out and it was almost warm for my summer 1940s dress, almost,
if you concentrated REALLY hard.




I loved cycling on the track, though the banking took a little 
getting used to, it helped having the track to myself all 
afternoon, well almost...


 
Charlottes peddled Nick, the camera man in a wheelchair 
bicycle beside me. It was while doing just this, with me 
trussed up in a full Edwardian cycling costume and being 
filmed on a Bolex 16mm that we had an uninvited addition 
to the shot, in the form of a naked young man running 
along side me, naked but for his converse trainers, yes, 
our film had its own streaker, we had hit the big time. 
See I told you it was almost warm! The first ray of 
sunshine and we all go mad and strip naked. Anyway, 
I now had a proper fit of the giggles which is never 
a good idea while cycling in a corset.


 
And to think i thought i was being risque in my summer 
dress, flashing my stocking tops in true old school 
Cambridge style, totally outdone by a naked dude...



All in all my second day of 30 days of bicycling was 
a great adventure, how am I going to top that tomorrow?


 
Although I should have topped off my evening with the 
second half of the Tour de France documentary, when I 
spotted my favorite film of all time on iplayer, research 
went out the window, oh how I love "one of our dinosaurs 
is missing" amazing!