Editor's Statement
Recently I found myself digging through a box I’d not opened in over a decade. Labeled “Old Bike Magazines” it might as well have been my adolescent school books. My eleven-year-old self could have never predicted what followed from that first copy of Bicycle Guide purchased from the grocery store magazine rack in early 1993—the beginning of a serious obsession, and a few boxes of back issues in my adult attic. I poured over them as a kid, studying every issue as I picked them up at the newsstand or eventually had them delivered by subscription. Particular covers, images, articles and ads stand out in my mind to this day.
The bicycle media I picked up then planted the seed of what has become a lifestyle, influencing countless decisions along the way. Even with some bumps in the road I’ve got to admit that it’s been a great ride, one that still feels like it’s just beginning. Bicycles have taken me places I couldn’t have imagined, opening doors to further unexplored lands along the way.
From the first issues produced on a copy machine in 2007 through to the Urban Velo of today, thanks to our readers and contributors forty issues later we have a short stack of back issues to add to the extensive written record of bicycling. I can only hope that along the way Urban Velo has inspired a few to look at their bicycle and think of new possibilities.
Antwerp, Belgium has fantastic roads, especially with an old friend turned local guide. Photo by Brad Quartuccio