Hate myself for being so lazy with this blog. Tempted to make a New Year's resolution: ‘I promise to regularly update my blog’. Fancy a midsummer New Year's party to celebrate that? Anyway, I was meant to write about glamour in Moscow. But then got terribly bored even thinking about it.

No need to dwell upon this. Glamour is a post-Soviet craze for everything shiny and pretty. It's just embarrassing and silly. Let's talk smart things. Like bicycles without breaks - Fixed Gear. Fun and games! I haven't been so excited by anything in ages. Amazing that the fad is evolving in a city with no cycle lanes. I mean I'm crazy about my bicycle because it's my favorite color, it gets me places bypassing disgusting traffic jams, it keeps me fit for free and it's environmentally friendly. It's just the pain of cycling on side-walks amid pedestrians jumping on and off street curbs, and squeezing through cars parked on pavements that sometimes puts me off. Yes this sounds grim and I really think pedestrians should riot. I chose side-walks as I chose life. There is no way I would cycle on a Moscow road. A driver myself, I can safely say that it's just suicide. All the space next to the side-walk is taken by parked cars, pushing you further into the stream of nasty Moscow traffic. Scary? Not really. If you have breaks.

This brings us back to the topic of Fixed Gear. Perfection of simplicity, this is a single-speed bike without a freewheel or brakes, which makes it illegal in a few European countries! And although you can get a ready-made model, it seems much more fun to customize - or even make one from scratch.

They just look so incredibly cool! As of now I'm staying with my silly girlie bike, because I often cycle in high heels and I need comfort. But if I had enough space for two bicycles, I would definitely get one of these babies.

There's a Moscow Fixed Gear crew, here's how they do it:

Fixed Gear Moscow from Alex Goncharenko on Vimeo.

See also: the livejournal community on Fixed Gear.