Author: Mischa

2008 Baby!

Hey troopers, welcome to the new year! I hope everyone made it through all the celebrations without too much permanent damage or emotional scarring. The official BnC HQ recycling bin is in its third consecutive week of overflowing thanks to the ridiculous amount of beer and pizza that gets consumed in this house. We’re all about proper nutrition and hydration around here.

Summer seems to be doing its job a little better now that Christmas is out of the way and the weather’s kicking in again. Time for mountain biking I reckon. If you’re in Hobart and feeling the weight of the holiday season still, Metro are running a daily bus up to Fern Tree that will take bikes. All the fun with none of the effort! As far as I know it leaves daily from Franklin Square (bus stop M) at 10am. I think I might cave in and take it up a few times, just for uh…testing. Make sure the service is good and what-not. Might be worth checking with metro to confirm the time and other details of the service though, ’cause you can’t trust half the shit I spout.

Two weeks of holidays ahead for me, time to relax. I’m off to Coles Bay for a couple of days next week, so if you know of any killer trails in the area let me know. The MTB will be getting a workout for sure. After that I’m hoping to get in a solid ride every single day, but I’m a lazy bastard so I’m sure that plan will go to the dogs.

The Tasmanian summer track carnivals are still going! So if you haven’t made it along to one yet, there’s still time. Hobart’s carnival is on this Sunday (featuring BnC’s Ben “Huh, tactics?” Storer) so you should definitely come out to the track at Newtown oval for a bit of a gander and some yelling.

It turns out Ben was talking absolute rot (just for a change, ha!) in his previous post and it was actually Justin McMullen who hit the wood in Launceston and destroyed his front wheel. He sent us through a photo of the damage and I’m sure you’ll appreciate this bit of the e-mail:

“Wheel was trashed. No other damage to bike to report. I just landed a few burns and not even too many splinters. Pulled one splinter from between the inside of my skinsuit and my butt that was 3 inches long. Thankfully it didn’t actually go in. “

Goddamn!

Justin McMullen’s wheel

We’re always keen for photos and stories from riders all over the place, so if you’ve got something to share (or promote, or say, or whatever) drop us an e-mail!

The carnivals!

The Tasmanian summer carnivals are under way, with the Roseberry carnival kicking it all off last Saturday. Plenty of track racing excitement to be witnessed over the next couple of weeks. Tomorrow the Silverdome in Launceston is going to to explode into a racing frenzy as the velodrome gets a proper work out. It’s the only indoor, banked wood velodrome in Tasmania and I’m sure as hell keen to go have a gander. A few of the BnC crew will be piling into the support panno and doing the trek up north, so keep an eye out for a bunch of shady bastards in black hoodies.

Some friends of ours from the shores of Melbourne are down to get involved and hit the tracks. Nath and Turbo have already rocked the Roseberry carnival after a late-night open road assault and they’ll be at the rest of them, bumping shoulders and clawing for victory. You can keep an eye on their progress and adventures on Nath’s blog, right here.

BnC track monster Ben Storer will be taking a turn on the circuit early next year for the Hobart and St Helens carnivals as well, so the cheer squad will be out in full force.

  • 22nd December 2007 – Rosebery Carnival
  • 26th December 2007 – Latrobe Carnival
  • 28th December2007 – Mercure Hotel Launceston Carnival
  • 29th/30th December 2007 – Devonport Carnival
  • 1st January 2008 – Burnie Carnival
  • 6th January 2008 – Hobart Carnival
  • 19th January 2008 – St Helens Carnival

Hope you had a good christmas!

Track carnage

I’m pretty much the only person who regularly rides a bike to the place I work, which means I’m ‘the bike guy’ or ‘Cadel’ or ‘Lance’ or whatever else is supposedly hilarious on whatever day. When I walked into the staff room last night and everyone yelled “holy shit, you’ll want to see this!” and pointed to the TV I figured it would be some thing to do with bikes. Too fucking right. If you were watching the news last night you no doubt saw the velo-destruction at Revolution.

If not, here’s some footage.

Now don’t forget tonight is the final race night for Round 1 of the Tasmanian track series at Newtown Oval! Hopefully we don’t see any action like the previously mentioned, but I’m sure there will be plenty of excitement in the final battles for points. Bottles And Chains sponsored rider Ben Storer is currently sitting in first place in the standings, beating Australian pursuit champions and others of fine pedigree. Come along and cheer him on!

‘Ken oath!

Another Ken Self emerges from the dark corridors of the internet, and this time it’s on the other side of the world (that photo up the top is from another Ken frame, for those keeping tabs). Tasmanian born and bred, and generally the nicest track frame geometry you’ll ever ride. Click on the photo to see the original condition, the strip and the amazingly restored paintwork. Brilliant!

The final countdown

It’s your last chance to do a charitable thing and help out Possum Dave’s older brother (let’s call him Hedgehog Ryan). If you’ve forgotten who he is, he’s that guy who got run over by a Mercedes in London and then got stung with the massive damages bill after he took to their windshield with his bike. There is no justice, there’s just a load of bullshit.

Anyway, go spend some money on a t-shirt and stop the poor guy getting deported!

Oh yeah, and don’t forget to read the post below this one. Alleycat!

Roll on!

If anyone happens to know the where-abouts of a roller-racing setup in Tasmania, please let us know! Roller-racing used to be huge back in the day and given Tasmanias rich track racing history, there’s got to be something lying around somewhere. Alternatively, if you’ve got a bit of know-how on building a DIY setup get in contact. Running something through a laptop hooked up to a video projector would seem to be the easiest (and most portable) way.

A monthly carnival of roller-racing, beer drinking and live music would be a damn fine way to wile away a Tasmanian winter.

Old school?

What the fuck is up with muppets rocking pre-faded shirts for old school bands? Minding my own business at the pub tonight and I get smacked in the face with some guy wearing a brand new Run DMC shirt, only the logo’s pre-distressed and fucked up. I mean, what’s the bloody point? Either you actually like a band and you wear a new t-shirt with pride, or you’ve genuinely owned the shirt for a long time and now it’s too faded to read. Hell, even a new shirt is going to fade fast as shit if you truly love the band and wear it 5 times a week. How about you just leave it out in the sun for a couple of days?

Idiots.