Author: Ben

Frunk has a shed full of old bikes that whips ANY other collection of bikes I’ve seen anywhere.. and that includes the Bicycle Museum at Evandale(?), any tip shop on the planet and the Human Powered Cycles yard that I raved about so much last week. There is some real gold in Frunk’s collection.. A Massey Harris track bike from the 1890s, a mint 1950s Kenny Self town bike, a multitude of 1970s girls cruisers and bmx’s blah blah blah etc etc.. but this isn’t the point I wanted to get to.. the point I wanted to raise is that Frunk rescued every single one of these bikes from the tip face! Frunk told us that about 40 years ago he was at the tip dropping off some garden waste when he spotted a discarded kids bike that had nothing wrong with it.. Frunk picked it up, took it home and washed it off for his kids.. and that’s how it all started. He rescued 100s of bikes. Every type of bike you can imagine found a new home in his shed. Long after his kids had grown up and the excuse of ‘I’ll take it home for the little ones to play on’ had worn out, he was still pulling trikes and scooters off the junk heap. Back in those days there were no ‘tip shops’ or recycling centers.. it just all got ploughed into the landfill. Frunks obsession in saving old bikes is a godsend to the biking community.. our heritage has been preserved and stored. Occasionally, for a fee, Frunk will let one of his charges go to a good home where it can be rebirthed and ridden. Now I would tell you where this treasure trove is.. but, nah fk ya!

* We changed ‘Frunks’ name to protect the innocent.. or our own interests anyway..

Revolutionary? Yes. Practical? No.       …’Fixed-cross’ was born on sunday.. the product of an unholy matrimony between a Mountain-cross (or 4X if you prefer) track and a fixed gear bicycle.. The concept emerged from the post boozy friday night minds of four Bottles and Chains riders after watching Danger-Tim roll the Glenorchy Mountain-cross course on his XC bike.. It was suggested that his effort was a tad ‘blousy’ and that we could rail the track faster on our fixies.. ah, and yes, we did attempt to prove this point. The Mountain-cross course was ridden fixed three times, each time a tad faster than the last but just let me state.. no land speed records were being broken. Is this the start of something new? I doubt it.. but at least we’re keeping those BMX’esque ‘Mash-style’ fixed riders honest with a bit of Tasmanian dirt!

(oh god.. who let me touch a key-board pre 9am monday morning sans coffee??)

It’s nearly knock off time at B’n’C headquarters.. and I think beers are on the agenda. Having not indulged since the Iron Maiden concert in Sydney two weeks ago (where I finally got to pilot the plane whilst Captain Jimmy Black took the backseat ride), I think tonight may be the night for some B’n’C riding in the city.. Pub to pub, that is.. We will be heading out to Newtown Oval after work for a bit of er, ..’social’ track racing.. which will be followed by beers with Mr Rossendell and perhaps a ride into town.. on 88-gearinches brakeless of course.. So if ya keen for some beers and bikes tonight, head to Newie Oval and come for the post race roll! Yeuw!

Craig-C dropped me a line in response to Mashmonster’s and my visit to the Brunswick velodrome on the weekend. He suggested that next time I’m in Melburn that I don some stubbie shorts, put on a Victoria Bitter branded ‘wife beater’ (singlet) and head south to the Packer Park velodrome.

Apparently Packer Park has a bit of a glittery history.. and I like history! “Resurfaced in 2000, it is renowned by past and present Olympians as a great Victorian training and racing venue. Despite its modern surface, the velodrome is steeped in history, being used as a training venue for the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games and by the training squads for the 1960 and 1964 Olympics.  It is now home to the Carnegie Caulfield Cycling Club”.

Being Tasmanian, I’m partial to a spot of parochialism (Launceston really DOES suck). Nothing better than a bit of ‘my velodrome is better than yours’ or ‘northern suburbians are latte drinkers, southern Melbourians are pie eating bogans’ banter to fuel the competative fire!! Anyway, Craig’s comment got me to thinking about all the great club rivalries in sport.. Collingwood versus everyone else, Queensland versus NSW in Rugby League,  Hutchins versus St Virgils in our local rowing competition.. I’m pretty sure this extends across all sport, I’m wondering if we could evoke a tad of friendly parochialism within our own ranks? Perhaps at the Single Speed Nationals in Hobart we could get the Bottles and Chains Melburn Chapter to square up against the Hobart mob in a ride off of sorts? How better to get to know our northern (or southern) brothers!

The gauntlet is on the ground gentlemen..

Brad from Perth’s www.neinlives.com.au asked me to post up a plug for the Australian Cycle Messenger Championships being held in Adelaide this coming Easter.

“Come to Adelaide for the Australian Cycle Messenger Championships…. Its gonna be great… Partying, Drinking, Relaxing, Bonding and most importantly of all….. RACING!”

Given the distinct lack of currently practising couriers in Hobart, I think we’d be hard pressed to send a southern representative over (ahem.. Jessie? Time to embrace your cycling culture and take a road trip mate??) …maybe we could send a few former couriers over, I’m sure Sid Taberlay still has his crumpler (insert rolly-eyes here) bag hanging up somewhere. Or perhaps we could send a team of newspaper delivery boys over?? (..now there’s an untapped resource!) Or ‘Blingman’, you could don your ‘Fakenger’ outfit and cycle over on ya carbon ‘faux-lypic’ bike.. haha.. nah.

Anyway check out Nein Lives for more details if ya keen…

Whilst kicking about in Brunswick on the weekend, Mishmash and I stumbled across the ‘Human Powered Cycles’ yard and workshop. We were pretty impressed with the whole operation. Good to see old bicycles being restored and recycled.

“The Human Powered philosophy is about bicycling. It’s about finding healthy, active alternatives to our motorised, electrified society. We love bikes and offer bicycle repairs and servicing of distinctive quality. We’re also passionate about training and education so we host regular training workshops to teach bicycle maintenance skills to cyclists and enthusiasts.”

If you are in Melbourne and need a commuter ride, these guys are probably your boys! Check out the website: www.humanpowered.com.au

Bike Week is fast approaching. One of the events being held is the ‘Century Ride’, a 100km ride starting at Hobart’s Cenotaph which heads out to Cambridge then Seven Mile Beach, Tea Tree, Campania, Richmond, over Grass Tree Hill, the Bowen Bridge and finally back into Hobart. The Bike Tas website suggests that the ride can take between 4 and 7 hours to complete.

I’m considering doing the ‘Century Ride’ on my fixie. I like the idea of riding 100kms on just ‘one fkn gear’.. I’ve nailed the odd 60km ride fixed (Margate to Cygnet) but never been any further than that in one hit. Fairly confident my fitness level is up there for a ride of this scale, but the fear factor is nagging at the back of my head.. Will my knees pack up half way around? Would I finish last.. or finish at all?? Is it too far??? The ascent of Grass Tree Hill particulary worries me.. I haven’t seen it but I have hear rumours of a steep incline that (quote) ‘goes on and on forever!’.

There is a soft option, the 50km ‘Half Century Ride’ but I think this route still encompasses Grass Tree Hill, so I would still have to cycle the same monster. I know 50km is totally possible, especially having just ridden 50km on the dirt only two weeks ago.. So I think it’d be better to challenge myself and ride 100km.

Dunno if any of the other B’n’C crew are keen to join me in my madness? Mischa flagged some interest in the 50 and I think Turner-Burner may be up for the 100 if he’s in town.. Grundy is still coming to grips with fixed downhill and he thinks that Margate to B’Bay is a monster ride so I doubt he’ll be keen. Dave Killick? Probably yes??

Anyway take a look at the Bike Tas website and decide for yourselves.. 100kms fixed or not? 
http://cyclingsouth.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=49

Hobartian cyclists are going to take to the city streets and enjoy a fun cycle supporting sustainable transporting and advocating for better cycleways in Hobart. Critical Mass happens in 70 cities around the world. On the last Friday of the month, cyclists gather in cities around the world to ride together in a ‘Critical Mass’. This month in Hobart we want to make it MASSIVE! Come together to enjoy a fun, flat ride around the CBD, and add your voice to the call for better cycling facilities in Hobart.

Meet at Franklin Square at 5.15pm on Friday February 29th

The fixie is in @ Treadlies getting some cosmetic surgery done so I had to seek an alternative method of getting to work this morning. Decided that parking the Panno @ my sisters house in South Hobart and riding old Possy McCaigs BMX into town was the plan. Geez, what a way to ride! I don’t think I’ve ever had so much fun on a.. er, ‘commute’ before.. In full shirt and neat pants I hit every gutter and hip on the way down. Spun out into the lane on Macquarie Street a couple of times before I realised that I could spin fast enough and was in peril of being mowed down by a Collegiate mum in a 4WD.. Haha! Awesome. Even had time to stop in @ Mischa’s for a cup of tea. All very civilized. The BMX looks very happy tied up with all the other commuter rides underneath the ANZ building. Think I’ll be doing this one again soon.

Mischa hooked me up with three ‘Defiance, Ohio’ cd’s this week. My wife looked mildly concerned when I told her where I had got them from. Though she likes most forms of music, a few of cd’s the B’n’C boys have slung me in the past hadn’t gone down too well… (read: Mindsnare, I like it, she doesn’t) Anyway it panned out better than good. She loved the tunes on the cd’s! Great band and totally worth tracking down. Any band prepared to promote a ‘bike workshop’ like the one on the above flyer is worth its weight in gold (or Campagnolo/SramXO). Awesome.