A year ago today I saw this cyclist riding along the canal pathway. Bikes like this are not seen every day in Ottawa. The stylish cyclist was also not lost on me. I was in my car at the time and managed a quick picture out the window and an idea was hatched. It would take another six months to get Ottawa Cycle Chic going but this was the photo that started it all. The bike is an Adriatica.
This photo should help balance out my male-female ratio of chic cyclists photos. Surely even the helmet afficionados would admit this photo wouldn't work with helmets.
A glorious fall day (27 degrees celcius!) and everyone was outdoors.
Bikes: Schwinn and Raleigh
I did a double take when I saw this bike. Exactly like the first bike I ever bought though I think she has swapped out the drop bars for straight ones.
Bike: Sekine
Ottawa is a helmet loving city. Informal surveys I do tend to show about a 60-40 split in favour of helmets though this may be skewed a bit because fewer cyclists wear helmets along the multi-use pathway than on busy arterials. I suspect it's more 70-30. Still, while crossing the Corktown Footbridge the other day I had 5 cyclists, one after another, come around the corner in about one minute and not a helmet was in sight. Here they are in order.