Over the last few years there has been a significant revival of interest in enamel with a number of contemporary jewellers developing new ways of working with enamel that enable them to create exciting and innovative work.
This exhibition showcases the work of thirty jewellers of international standing who, through a varied set of practices, take enamel well beyond its traditional boundaries.
The title, Surface and Substance, has been chosen to emphasize that while this is clearly an exhibition that focuses on the use of vitreous enamel – the surface – of equal importance is the ‘substance’ that underpins the work on display; the thinking and the research, which along with the obvious material knowledge and skill, is evident in the striking and individual pieces on show.
Silke Trekel - ‘Branching Out’ Brooch, 2010 - chased iron, enamelled (from ‘Spatial Structures’ exhibition)
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I just think it'd be really fun to ride on EVERY SINGLE ROAD the city calls bike friendly, and then decide if we agreed with them or not .
So I actually tried mapping this out, and it turned into a really interesting route optimization problem. I'm sure a GIS/mapping expert could do a better job, but here's one suggested route for all of the on-street bike routes, bike lanes, or shared lane markings south of King: https://ridewithgps.com/routes/27995029.
All right -- based on conversations at tonight's Fridays at the Fountain, it sounds like there's interest in doing this! Here's the plan: optional breakfast meetup at the Whole Foods on Duke Street at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday, roll out at 9:00 a.m. Bring sunscreen, a copy of the Alexandria bike map so that you can make notes about any errors on the map, and lots of patience (because I'm going to be slooooow on the hills).
I probably won't make it. Please feel free to ride very slowly on Seminary. There is discussion going on on Next door, and I am not happy. I am sure Jim will talk me down, but I am in the mood for a full on Critical Mass approach on Seminary.
I will be there, at least for the first hour of the ride. I will have extra copies of the current map with me.
Below is a table showing all of the streets or trails (hills were included that either noted bike infrastructure or on-street bike route) that were flagged as having hills in the Alexandria Bicycle Map published in 2015-2016 . Of note, six of the hills have earned the coveted double caret that seems to represent a steeper climb - Chambliss Trail, West Braddock (westbound between Russell and West Windsor), Howard, King (westbound between Russell and Upland), Mt. Ida (westbound between Commonwealth and Sycamore) and Walnut.
Below is a table showing all of the streets or trails (hills were included that either noted bike infrastructure or on-street bike route) that were flagged as having hills in the Alexandria Bicycle Map published in 2015-2016.
Interesting, thanks. For the part of the city that we'll be riding tomorrow, I noticed that two of the places previously marked as hills are no longer marked as such on the new map:
I can't imagine that those hills suddenly got flatter in the past two years, but I guess we'll find out tomorrow.
This was an absolutely terrific wonderful awesome ride. Even I (who like to ride in West Alex, and scout around for bike infra) got to ride places I have never ridden. And to ride with a group in places I have only ridden by myself. Weather was great, the company was even better. Thanks especially to Komorebi for intricate route plotting, and to Casey for added tidbits of transportation lore.
Couple photos. LSG also scouted out some trees. Reports will be sent to the City as well as feedback about the bike infrastructure .
And my bike found its soul mate off Seminary Road after the pedestrian overpass to nowhere. As LSG said "It has fenders too so it's a commuter car!"
If anyone wants to ride the rest of the bike map, I'll be doing that on Sunday. Optional breakfast meetup at the Whole Foods on Duke Street at 8:00 a.m. on Sunday, roll out at 8:30 a.m. Draft route is at https://ridewithgps.com/routes/28237147. I left out Old Town, because many of us are familiar enough with that area to provide feedback without needing to ride it again.
Also, if you have feedback about the map but can't make it on Sunday, PM me. I'm collecting feedback to give to City staff. Thanks.
Why the Bike Doctor app is the easiest to follow bike maintenance guide you’ll ever find | Bike Doctor App
At home I have a big pile of bike maintenance books. I’ve got links to resources such as Sheldon Brown, bookmarks to YouTube videos and eBooks.
Whilst I’ve never been very good at anything technical, I always wanted to be good at bike maintenance.
I could picture having a bike that runs perfectly, with no squeaks. I could picture my family and neighbours coming round and helping them with their repairs.
I’d take my bike to the local bike shop and they’d say “These brakes are on back to front, they have directional indicators”
Eventually, it put me off maintaining my bike. As I didn’t have money for the bike shop, it fell in to disrepair.
Around about that time, the first iPhone appeared. I thought – wow, this would be the perfect little device to have a bike maintenance guide on.
Bike Doctor was created with one important difference to anything else out there: Even a complete beginner could follow the repairs inside the app.
When I created Bike Doctor I knew only the basics to bike maintenance. Using all the maintenance books, videos and resources I’d collected, I would attempt repairs. Inevitably, things would go wrong and then I’d look up where I went wrong. Afterwards, I’d include those extra details inside the instructions, as if I went wrong there, someone else might too.
Instead of writing the guide as a pro bike mechanic who’s been doing this for years, I created it as a beginner.
I read somewhere about truing wheels and it said don’t bother unless you are a pro, but I’ve just sorted my wheels out a treat. The app paid for itself straight away!
To find the relevant repair you can either use our bike view or you can select from one of the categories.
Bike Doctor works on iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android devices. Make sure you are using iOS 6 or above.