Over the last week, wonderful flower-adorned bicycles have started to appear on roundabouts in Elmbridge in Surrey, where we live.
It was such a lovely surprise to first see them last weekend and I was intrigued as to who was responsible. So I thought I’d do some investigation into how they came about. They’ve certainly brought lots of smiles to people in the area…
The presence of the bicycles is due to the fact that this weekend the Olympic Cycling Road Races are coming to Surrey, with the Olympic Cycling Time Trials taking place next Wednesday.
I contacted Elmbridge Borough Council and spoke to Barry Young, their Leisure Development Manager.
He told me that there are a total of sixteen bicycles on roundabouts in Elmbridge, which have been strategically placed on Olympic cycling routes.
Two or three bikes are on roundabouts in the following areas: Hanger Hill, Scilly Isles, Hampton Court Way, Llamas Lane, Wellington Road and Hersham.
Local community centres and schools have created these masterpieces using silk flowers provided by the council, in colours from the Olympic palette.
And they had two to three weeks to construct them…some of them being very inventive and even using chicken wire to create the flower cyclists.
Here are some more images…which I took after dodging the traffic to get on to the roundabout on Llamas Lane in Esher!
As the cycling is the only part of the Olympics that we’re going to see, we’ll be trying to find a good viewing spot tomorrow to make sure we can catch a fleeting glimpse of recent Tour de France winner, Bradley Wiggins, as he whizzes past…
And I’m really looking forward to watching the opening ceremony tonight with friends, who’re coming to stay for the weekend.
So do look out for these very cute floral bikes if you’re in the area or see if you can spot them on the television over the weekend and next week.
P.S. If you’re wondering where the bicycles originally came from…they’ll all unclaimed bikes donated by Surrey Police.
(Images : Rona Wheeldon for Flowerona)
Marie says
July 27, 2012 at 4:05 pmHow creative! What a great idea.
Cecily Wilson says
July 29, 2012 at 5:33 pmThanks for sharing these beautiful photographs: really appreciated:-) Some people are truly gifted … what a wonderful idea:-)
Rona says
July 30, 2012 at 9:17 amYou’re very welcome Cecily :-).
Rona says
July 31, 2012 at 1:41 pmThank you very much for your comment Cecily. The floral bicycles may be on the television tomorrow as they’re on the route that the Olympic Cycle Time Trials are taking place on.