Words: Alex Throssell Illustrations: Gill Chantler | gillchantler.com
As unassuming as a leisurely group ride around norwich may sound, it was probably the greatest ride of my life In the space of two months, I met and then lost possibly the most influential person in my recent years. It was at a battle of the bands gig in late March that I first met Kiama Petit: a friend of a friend and an uncontrollable bundle of positive energy. In the quiet between acts, she raved about local bike-builder Tom Donhou and told me about the Norwich Papergirl ride, her art-meets-bikes end of university project. By the beginning of May, four weeks after the Papergirl ride, Kiama, still only 21 years old, unexpectedly passed away. A year and a half later, all of the good things that have happened to me since can, in one way or another, be traced back to that Papergirl bike ride. In fact, it was on that single day that I (almost) met the love of my life, found one of my closest friends and got to know the people at the bike shop I’d go on to work with for the next year or so.
