in Melbourne, British cyclists have been on track to claim various gold, silver and bronze medals in the world championships.
At the weekend, competitors in Fish and Game's Cycling Gymkhana had their winning efforts rewarded with choccie eggs and the only gold handed over was the foil wrapping on a chocolate bunny. Yet both these events seemed to share a passionate conviction that cycling was exhilarating, liberating and full of tantalising possibilities for individuals willing to put the foot down and pedal like the clappers. I am not one of them. That didn't stop me enjoying the fun of the free family-friendly event organised as part of the Arches Behaviour 2012 festival.
Since the start of March, Fish and Game's Eilidh MacAskill, in the guise – and natty green tweed bloomer suit – of a late 19th-century lady cyclist, has taken to her soapbox and to Glasgow's roads in a performative celebration of the bicycle and its contribution to the lives of women over the past century.
The Cycling Gymkhana was the culmination of her dip into history: an evocation of the 1901 event that featured in Glasgow's Great Exhibition but mostly, with its wacky races, adorably daffy songs – MacAskill on her ukulele, backed by live music from Kim Mason (Zoey van Goey) and others – and lots of jolly audience participation, this gymkhana was a delightfully home-spun salute to the two wheels good, four wheels bad brigade and the trail-blazing Victorian women flouting social conventions with their bloomers and bikes.
HHH
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