Monthly Archives: June 2023

Coffee & Bikes

One of the crowded places in the Delft Technical University (The Netherlands) is its cafeteria which is also a workshop and a bike parking. This 2018 building was projected at the square of the Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering with the suggestive name of Coffee & Bikes.

Interestingly, a rider can make use of its 2,100 bike parking and the two floors construction is surrounded by a mound covered with grass where one can relax between classes. Marjolein van Eig designed it inspired by the modern architecture of the Illinois Institute of Technology (USA) campus. The Coffee & Bikes presents a 5 x 6 meters steel beams grid which will ease a future enlargement and all the structure is detachable. Bikes are protected by the external parapet.

The workshop is located on the ground floor, directly connected to the bike parking, whereas the cafeteria is on the first floor. This last is accessed through external stairs and enjoys the sight. Moreover, the ceiling height varies so that the seating area is original and personality.

Cris Lares

When talking about great trips some pass from one continent to another, whereas bike travelers also remain in the same continent. This is the case of Cris Lares. The Mexican woman started riding on her Specialized Pitch 27.5 from Oaxaca de Juárez the 23th of September 2018. She arrived in Pitumarca, Canchis district (Peru), but her plan was to reach the south of Argentina after pedaling more than 16,000 km. She had visited Guatemala, Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Ecuador, and interesting places like impressive ocean coasts, the Amazon or the mountain range of the Andes. The problem was that she suffered an accident with a motorbike and broke both her fibula and tibia. This fact forced her to wait for months until restarting her great trip. After that, another accident happened with a car driven by a drunken and the Covid pandemic. Thus, some more months waiting for the recovering and then finally she could continue riding.

The tragic experiences show how strong this woman is and some tips she shares for life and specially for a great trip are to be positive-minded, not to think about negative issues, always thank people hospitality, be fit as a fiddle and ride with wisely-decided, low weight. This last point is really important. Take for example when Cris rode to the snowed Cotopaxi volcano in Ecuador. She wore an impermeable trouser, but no jacket, neither gloves. Fortunately, she arrived at a mountain refuge where she could light a fire and warm up.

On March 2020, she arrived to Brazil after pedaling for 16,729 km.