Oh Julia! After nine months of glorious cycling Julia is no more! Well she may be somewhere under a different guise, stripped for parts or repainted ruthlessly but she ain’t mine any more. Sob.
On 16th January 2012 between the hours of 5pm and 7pm Julia was ruthlessly stolen from behind the BFI, almost opposite the Pizza Express on Belvedere Road. Where she went and who took her nobody knows. Julia was the third bike I have ever owned and more importantly my first bike as an adult and my induction into London cycling. Having lived in a top floor flat for 2 years prior to owning Julia I moved to a house with a lockable shed in the garden, easily accessible by a lockable side gate. All my housemates had cycles, my friend Helen cycled. I wanted in. After some pretty scary/fun experiences on one of Boris’ behemoths, Julia was sent to me from above. Well the owner of the shop opposite the café I worked in at the time put her on the pavement outside his shop with a sign saying ‘Buy me – £40’. I couldn’t resist.
Having known Bunty for a while I had been tempted to buy something new and under the Bikery’s tutelage had been perusing Gumtree for newish Ridgebacks. Julia however was too good to be true. The day I bought Julia off the curb of an East Dulwich street was one of those hot April days of 2011 and it was a good day. Having just nipped out during my shift to buy her, I parked her at the back of the café and kept sneaking a peak at her between knocking up the odd latte or Americano. Once I was finished I was off, straight to Railton Road and Bikery HQ.
Initially due to my complete lack of cycling knowledge I thought she was a single speed. I didn’t really know how to feel about this. Luckily for me (I don’t think I have the thighs for single speed) I found the gears. Julia was a beautiful, well maintained 1986 Falcon Seville, in burgundy. Hand built in England. (I don’t know how important this last point is, but it is true because it was emblazoned on her frame). She had 5 gears with a lever on the down tube. Although initially tricky I came to love the way you had to feel out the gear you wanted.
On the day she was stolen, I had just that weekend tweaked the new seat and handle bar grips I had bought, taken the new back tyre for a spin and foolishly, decked her out with lights and a pretty whizzy top rack bag. Oh Julia, she was looking good. She was recently serviced and ripe for the picking. I don’t think I have ever felt quite so confused, coming out of the Southbank Centre and finding my bike gone! For about five minutes I was fairly convinced that I’d forgotten where I’d parked her. Scouting around the other bike racks I knew I was sure where I had left her. I left her on that slightly bent looking rack under the bridge. Mmmm perhaps that was my mistake and now in her place was a pretty battered ladies Ridgeback. What to do – who can you notify when your bike is stolen? (The Police, you say?) I tried my dad and another cycling friend. Obviously they didn’t know where my bike was. I went to my writing class and day dreamed about forgetting to lock her and therefore leaving her free for anyone to pilfer.
I went back the next day just in case.
Having sampled an older bike and poured love into her old bones, I can’t say I have got over it yet. However onwards and upwards. With the help of my employer’s ‘Cycle to Work Scheme’ and the Bikery’s other mode of transport (a car), I have purchased…. Claud! Brand, spanking new, fresh outta the box Claud. He is a 2011 Claud Butler Kensington, with 5 hub gears and all the mod cons that come with that. I still don’t know too much about bikes; I do however know he is a gay, slightly grumpy Frenchman. I think we will get there; I might have today, with the aid of Google actually worked out how to use the new-fangled gears.
I don’t think my tales of Julia are over for good but Claud awaits!
(Written by Clare Payne)
