Mighty Cycle Media » biking

ALPHABIKE

Molly — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:24:42 +0000

Two weeks ago I had a little idea that blossomed into a wildly popular project entitled ALPHABIKE.

**UPDATE JULY 2010: Posters of ALPHABIKE are now for sale on Etsy!**

It started with these two books I found called Graphic Design: the New Basics, a guide to design principles illustrated primarily with student work, and Teaching Graphic Design, a collection of syllabi from undergraduate and graduate design courses all over the country.

I noticed a project being done in a lot of intro to typography classes was creating an alphabet out of random objects, ranging from banana peels, to army men, shoes, food, bodies, some physical, some photographic. I thought, well, what do I love as much as I love typography and photography? BIKES! Hence the birth of the ALPHABIKE.

I spent a couple days taking photos of bikes (and am now intimately familiar with most every bike on Hampshire’s campus). G, R, K, and F were the most difficult to find. I had to think a lot about distinguishing letters from shapes, what the essential lines of each letter are, and many of the photos are all about perspective.

People have already been asking me about getting a poster of it, so I think I’m going to sell prints as a fundraiser for my circus troupe’s bicycle tour next summer. So let me know if you are interested, and I’ll have them available some time in the next few weeks!

Introducing.. the Downside-Up Circus!

Molly — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 07:01:39 +0000

Okay: so I’ve been horrible about blogging this summer… BUT that’s because Tara and I have both been up to our necks planning and scheming about our next major project: the Downside-Up Circus. Tara first told me of her idea for Downside-Up when we met up to travel in february. At that point we didn’t have much besides the name, and that we wanted it to be community-oriented and awesome.

Throughout our many long train rides around Europe, we put our heads together to craft a mission statement, begin envisioning a summer 2010 tour (by bicycle!), and slowly start inviting people to the troupe. All summer I’ve been working hard on a logo, visual identity, and website for the circus. Tara and our other co-founder Victoria have been hard at work planning out finances, applying for grants, and other business logistics.

Probably most of our online energy these days will go into the upkeep of the Downside-Up website and blog, SO to find out about all our super exciting plans, head on over to www.DownsideUpCircus.org!

<3,

Molly

Photographic Evidence

Molly — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:26:13 +0000

I was thinking yesterday how I really miss photography. From the time I was 8 till I was 16 or 17, photography was my MAIN thing, but the past few years it’s really taken a back seat to graphic design and video. So I went out and took some lovely photos on the rail trail, which I have been meaning to do for ages. Enjoy! (You can click on them to see them full size.)

-Molly

the Norwottuck Rail Trail wins!

Molly — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 00:57:47 +0000

Sometimes, I silently scold cars that pass me when I’m biking, in a Dave Eggers style imagined conversation.

- You don’t see what I see.

- I am in a hurry.

- The hot air balloons drifting over the cornfields at sunrise…

- I am tired.

- The horses, sheep, cows, winking as you glide by.

- …

- Endless farmland and gracious meadows, rolling green hills. Twisty tall trees, vines hanging down to create a tunnel of green. The birch groves, where, when the early morning sun hits just right, you can very nearly catch sight of where the elves live. On the bridge crossing the Connecticut, squinting a little and tilting your eyebrows just so, the bridge disappears and you are flying into the sunset on your bike, ET style, through the viney green canopies of Never Never Land.

- I am sorry.

- Just think about biking next time.

Also: 20 miles a day X 5 days a week X 10-ish weeks = 1,000 miles! Yeah!

And: Today I got caught in the rain on my way home. It wasn’t so bad at first, the only thing that’s hard about biking in the rain is when my glasses get clouded. But then it started getting really vigorous, and maybe hailing, so I took shelter under a little tunnel because I knew it would pass soon.

After a few minutes, the sun came out, but the rain was still coming down hard core. A rainbow appeared in a perfect arch over the path, lined with trees stretching off into to the horizon, and it was just about the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.

This is not my image, but I included it just so you could get a general idea. Sometime I’ll take my camera along and document the beauty myself.

- M