Q&A with Constance Winters of Lovely Bicycle!

Photo by Gary McLaughlin

City Derry, Northern Ireland

Occupation Writer, photographer, author of the Lovely Bicycle! blog

What is your BikeStyle?

Haphazardly exuberant.

What are your favorite clothes to bike in?

Wool dresses and skirts, especially ones that I make myself.

Where are we most likely to spot your bike?

Outside a village cafe … or leaning against a farm fence.

What do you like most about riding?

The physical sensations of it – everything from the pedaling motion itself, to the feel of moving through space at bike speed, to the sun and wind against my skin and the way sounds and smells get warped and diffused as I cycle through them.

What is your dream bike for everyday cycling?

Probably the one I ride the most, which is my raw lacquer Brompton folding bike with upright handlebars and lowered gearing. This ingenuous little machine does as well in the city as it does going up steep mountains, carries all my camera gear with ease, and I can travel with it too.

What did you eat for breakfast?

Grilled cheese on toasted wheaten bread.

What song is most played on your iPod?

That’s between me and my bike.

Basket or panniers?

Bagsket (the bag/ basket hybrid on the front of my Brompton).