Cycling through a developing obsession

The thing about the bike is, it takes you places you’d ordinarily not pass by car and certainly places you’d never get to by foot in the same time. As I explore the lands in the search of good coffee and treats to reward thousands of revolutions of the pedals and umpteen calories burned, the things I see do not relent in their sensory applause. It’s almost like train travel, staring out the window, the landscape rushes by but not without the ability to lock in on an object before it vanishes. The same can not be said for the conductor of an auto-mobile. On these cadence dependent sojourns its apparent I’m developing a new obsession, mildly, but yet another one to add to the list perhaps. It goes by the name of: MADHI The style first struck me, a tad Betty Boop maybe? Simple, yet effective and evocative. What really has begun to feed the obsession, beyond the style and simplicity, is the reach of these artists. Across the landscape of the South of France there’s hundreds of kilometres to travel and nary much wall space clear, but there it often is in a faraway place, Madhi’s mural. Whatsmore, mostly these street artists share their talent under the lumens of the stars. I guess not so dissimilar to 5am training rides? Take a night out with Madhi here on Vimeo: XpoSIT° EvolutiVh – Ep.001 from ИHK on Vimeo. So not only has the bike delivered coffee and tasty treats but it’s delivered yet another habit, perhaps obsession, the motivation to try a new route, to find another mural, another slice of well-deserved cake. And as transient as street art is, so too is the lactic. Here’s a selection of recent favourites across the Pyrenees-Orientales region, France.