ERIC GAUSTER: What is your earliest cycling memory?
MARILYN P: When moving to Sweden at 6, all the kids were on bikes and I wanted to look Swedish…..

EG: Where do you live and how does cycling fit into your life?
MP: I live in Clapton, I can only go at the back of the tandem as I was brain injured in a car accident 6 years ago. I was in a coma and then a wheelchair, re-learnt walking and talking at 27. I always want to cycle but have to learn life as a co-pilot.

EG: You ride a tandem, what’s the story behind your choice of bike?
MP: See above!

EG: What would you always bring along on a cycle trip?
MP: A helmet and some cash. A pretty boy is a plus!

EG: A word of advice to Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, regarding cycling policy?
MP: Put on a smile.

EG: Favourite post-ride foodstuff?
MP: Fruit…………………salads rock my socks off!

EG: What music currently moves you?
MP: Anything by Catpower.

ERIC GAUSTER: What is your earliest cycling memory?
OLIVER S: Learning to ride a bike when I was 4. My dad letting go of me, me not realising and happily riding on, then looking back and feeling even happier, like millions of other children. One of the happiest shared cultural memories, no doubt. I remember exactly where it was, although sadly not the date – that’s one I’d like to know. (Too many ‘happies’ but you get my drift).

EG: Where would someone most likely bump into you on your bike?
OS: All over London, but particularly North-east London.

EG: What’s the best and worst thing about current cycling culture?
OS: Best: Variety,diversity, excitement. All the wonderful people you meet who love cycling. Worst: That many people (those who already cycle and those that don’t alike) treat cycling as something mundane and utiltarian, lacking skill and knowledge. It’s a major cultural preoccupation, and while it’s obvious that not everybody can sample all of culture, access to it is currently still suppressed and too few people have been able to discover it. False myths abound.

EG: Where’s the best place you have discovered by bicycle?
OS: Where I live.

EG: What would someone find in the bottom of your pannier?
OS: Hm. Nothing, I’m afraid, except maybe for breadcrumbs. I don’t do any touring and use a pannier only for shopping.

EG: Favourite post-ride foodstuff?
OS: Food

EG: What music currently moves you?
OS: Too much to list!

Eric Gauster: What get’s you up in the morning?
wiganwill: The older I get the more it feels, when I wake up, as if I am coming round after a not particularly successful operation. Obligations get me out of bed. That and my bowels. Will no one rid me of these turbulent bowels?

EG: What is your earliest cycling memory?
ww: Falling off my new Chopper on Xmas day. I was probably not covering my brakes.

EG: Where would someone most likely bump into you on your bike?
ww: At a T-Junction. Or at a bike polo session; taking photographs. Or going to Morrisons. I’m living La Vida.

EG: A word of advice to Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, regarding cycling policy?
ww: My advice to Boris Johnson would involve a loaded gun, a bottle of whiskey and somewhere quiet. Failing that the useless Tory clown should vote for Ken Livingstone.

EG: Campagnolo or Shimano?
ww: Campagnolo. Predictable I know.

EG: Favourite post-ride foodstuff?
ww: My diet is appallingly limited. According to the labels on pet foods the average cat or dog gets its five a day more often than I do and I’m a vegetarian. I eat pasta with stuff on it. Alone, funnily enough.

EG: What music currently moves you?
ww: I like the music on the internet, you know, that free music. It’s nice not to have to shoplift from HMV anymore.

ERIC GAUSTER: What is your earliest cycling memory?
SUE R: Perhaps not my earliest, but certainly the most memorable. When I was a child in Zimbabwe (maybe about 12/13 years old) I remember lifting a friend on the back of my bike and we were going  down a gravel road on a slight downhill. After a while I realised we were picking up speed and I decided to brake and of course we went flying , with me ‘surfing’ down the road on my front and my friend cushioned nicely on top of me! I have a scar on my chin as a reminder.

EG: Where would someone most likely bump into you on you bicycle?
SR: Between Rotherhithe and Bermondsey most days.

EG: What’s the best and worst thing about current cycling culture?
SR: The best thing is the complete diversity of people who ride bikes (all ages, sizes, outfits) but I love seeing elegantly dressed (mostly) women on bikes with not a stitch of lycra in sight. The one that really impressed me recently was a very smart lady, dressed in black, wearing what looked like 6″ stiletto heels, with a huge Armani shopping bag over the handlebar. As I cycled past her, I turned round to look at her in admiration and realised that she wasn’t a young girl but probably well over 50! The worst thing, apart from the usual gripes, are cyclists who are inconsiderate to everyone, including other cyclists.

EG: Where’s the best place you have discovered by bicycle?
SR: The backstreets of London, usually away from all the traffic, but I love cycling through central London at night when the weather is mild, after about 10pm when the roads are much quieter.

EG: What would someone find in the bottom of your pannier?
SR: Something black that I’ve been looking for for ages and couldn’t find because I couldn’t be bothered to use a torch to see what’s in there!

EG: Favourite post-ride foodstuff?
SR: A glass of lovely, chilled white wine.

EG: What music currently moves you?
SR: Tindersticks – my latest discovery after hearing a track on 6 Music (rather a late discovery since the album I recently bought was recorded in 1995!) and now I just can’t get enough of them.

ERIC GAUSTER: What is your earliest cycling memory?
JAMES K: I didn’t learn to ride until quite late – I was 7 years old and my Dad and my older brothers had got an old frame and sprayed it sky blue, having hung it from the clothes line with a coat hanger through the bottom bracket to do the job. It was a bmx and probably lighter than some of the horrible things you see kids riding on these days. So once it was set to go – red ribbed grips and quilted stitched red saddle – they just pushed me uphill out of the driveway and I pedalled away. At least I remember it being that simple…………..

EG: Where would someone most likely bump into you cycling?
JK: Probably around the Crystal Palace Triangle in South London or if it were a nice weekend in spring down on the Pilgrims Lane past Biggin Hill.

EG: What’s the best and worst thing about current bicycle culture?
JK: The best thing is that it has many different churches – hipsters, commuters, roadies, BMXers, old ladies and kids who just want to ride but rather than petty bickering (like you might get between, say, music sub-cultures) we are all friends.
The worst thing is the fear I have that the increase of cycling is just a trend and it will go the way of skateboarding and rollerblades. I hope not as it is far far far  more practical than any of the ‘transport’ trends before but sometimes cycling comes over as being cool and the bike as a ‘must have accessory’ something I fear people will move away from when the Segway trend takes off……………

EG: Where’s the best place you have discovered by bicycle?
JK: When I moved to my wife’s home town in Este in Italy I had no job, no money and no mates and a lot of spare time. Sadly I had no bike either! Eventually I got a bike given to me and was able to discover the Euganei Hills. It’s fairly unknown part of Italy springing out of the flat northern plane between Venice and Bologna. It is such a beautiful place full of vineyards and small villages with church towers and old villas. I knew I had ‘discovered’ it when my father-in-law asked me for directions!

EG: What really annoys you in life generally?
JK: Selfish and inconsiderate people – be it road users ‘bullying’ others, people making noise in the street at 1am, loud mobile phone conversations on the bus and all these sorts of things which I suspect the protagonists know are going to upset their neighbours or whoever but just don’t care……. it’s as if they want to be ‘challenged’ on it and they are up for confrontation.

EG: Favourite post-ride foodstuff?
JK: Cut up about 15 cherry tomatoes into halves or quarters and cook them in a small pan with a pinch of salt, some chilli flakes and a tablespoon of olive oil. Cover and occasionally stir. Cook it for about 20 mins (probably as long as it takes to boil your water and cook your pasta). Cook about 130 grams of wholewheat penne, drain and then mix the sauce and the pasta together. Some Italian hard cheese grated over the top on the “large” grater works too. Wash down with a pint of milky tea (two bags!) as you are probably sick of water by now and you should keep hydrating for a couple of hours after coming back.

EG: What music currently moves you?
JK: I hadn’t realised how much I listened to BBC6 music until our digital radio broke. Since then I have been re-discovering 80s Australian music on Youtube. It’s quite nice as you get the “suggestions” column down the right hand side so one song and you have a rich seem of stuff coming up you haven’t thought about in years. Early Springsteen always gets me too and I’ve been listening to that at work lately.

ERIC GAUSTER: What is your earliest cycling memory?
EPPIE G: Learning to ride in my street when I was 6 and falling off a few times.

EG: Where do you live and how does cycling fit into your life?
EPG: Blackheath, London. I spend my weekends with my Dad and we often cycle along the Thames.

EG: Why do you enjoy cycling?
EPG: I cycle because it’s fun and you can see more of your surroundings than being in a car.

EG: Where is the best place you have discovered by bicycle?
EPG: Fat Boys Diner at Trinity Buoys Wharf by the Thames. They have really nice food there and it’s a kind of secret place that not many people know about.

EG: Why do you think more children don’t ride bicycles?
EPG: Because they are lazy!

EG: Favourite post-ride foodstuff?
EPG: Macaroni Cheese and Diet Coke.

EG: What current music moves you?
EPG: Study War by Moby and anything by Lana Del Rey.

ERIC GAUSTER: What is your earliest cycling memory?
JANE S: Riding around Highcliffe on Jonny Burgesses stunt pegs.
Teaching myself to ride on a Moulton Mini down a narrow rubbly
alleyway. Must have been ten or eleven.

EG: Where do you live and how does cycling fit into your life?
JS: London. It’s how I get everywhere and how I carry everything.

EG: What’s the best thing about current cycling culture?
JS: How diverse it is becoming.

EG: Where’s the best place you have discovered by bicycle?
JS: Eastway cycle circuit and Northumberland.

EG: What really annoys you?
JS: Being undertaken by another person on a bike. Perfectly happy to be overtaken.

EG: Favourite post-ride foodstuff?
JS: Black coffee and a bowl of salty popcorn.

EG: Are fixed gear bicycles just for hipsters?
JS: And track cyclists.

ERIC GAUSTER:What is your earliest cycling memory?
DAVID D: When age 7 I got riding for the first time after bombing around on 1 stabilizer for months. I bent and broke off that stabilizer which felt like pulling out a wonky milk tooth. It was on a Raleigh single speed bike with a white mudguard.

EG: Where would someone most likely bump into you on your bike?
DD: Anywhere in London, I live north, I work south, I ride alone, with friends, east and west, on main roads and scenic routes. OK I’ll come clean. Most likely to be found around fakenger land. The hipster spice route and in Look Mum No Hands:)

EG: What’s the best and worst thing about current cycling culture?
DD: Worst and saddest is when anyone gets harmed. I don’t understand how we as a society tolerate behaviour by people who use such dangerous machines as cars in a sloppy and negligent manner. This is not an issue with cycling culture but with driving culture. I have no issue with any aspect of cycling culture and love the fact that such a simple machine gives so much joy and fun to so many people. (Though understanding why people ride geared bikes all the time is beyond me).

EG: Where’s the best place you have discovered by bicycle?
DD: Discovering amazing archaeological remains near Capernecum on the Sea Of Galilee with my then girlfriend Rachel, a nurse from the Christian Hospital in Nazereth . We used to ride around that ‘Sea’ in a day stopping off for skinny dipping in that beautiful freshwater lake.

EG: What really annoys you in life generally?
DD: Not much annoys me. I suppose behaviour whether by individuals which harms others or societal norms which insist on certain behaviours because populist (Daily Mail) opinion would make changing these ideas harm someone’s political acceptance. Transport/drug/medical laws which harm rather than act to reduce harm.

EG: Favourite post-ride foodstuff?
DD: Mangos peaches, summer fruit (and cake)

EG: What music currently moves you?
DD: Hearing my girlfriend Jude sing and play her guitar.