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Slow Ride

APRIL 12, 2010
This month's Cycle Canada has an article that rings so true for me. Yes, it's my illustration that accompanies the article, and I'm honored. I was asked by Neil Graham, the editor, to contribute to another finely written article by Ted Bishop. Ted's done some award winning writing. The idea being put forth; Tempo Giusto: In Praise of the Slow Ride. I worked with the very talented, Chris Knowles. He's the art director that keep's up-righting the magazine when it's visually gone off.

An excerpt of the article gives the feel;

Coming out of the concert hall up on the mountain in Banff, where young musicians had been performing Beethoven’s 7th, I thought – Maybe a long ride should be like a symphony. If it’s all allegro it becomes like those crazy bluegrass sessions where the picking starts fast and just gets faster. An andante movement defines the fast; you feel how much pleasure can be wrung from a single note, a single turn. At the end both movements resonate within you. I presented this theory to my partner Hsing, a classical musician, thinking she’d be impressed. She said, “This is just an excuse to buy another motorcycle. I know you.” I feigned aggrieved innocence. Did she know that before the concert I’d heard the throb of an old Guzzi Eldorado coming up the hill? I dropped the topic, but this winter I’m going to be scanning the classifieds for an old thumper, a mile-muncher, not a road-burner. There’s a new breed of rebel out there, and they’re riding any damn speed they like. I’m going to tattoo “Born to Burble” across my chest and join them.

Ted Bishop.
Early sketches for one pagers.
Sketch for possible spread.
Final art
Topical: Editorial  
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