Liam White, my brother, this one is for you.

In a discussion with Liam White last weekend I promised to, ‘pull my finger out, ride more, surf more, camp more and take pictures’. Given that I woke to snow on the hill behind my parents house I think I’m excused from failing the ‘camp more’ task, ….but I did manage to cram alot more of the above into the weekend. Kicked off with a three hour night ride from Seven Mile Beach to Margate, backed it up with some serious mud on the Kaoota tramway, and solid session of surf in the poo soup that is ‘Fishoes’. The ever eloquent Dave Killick wrote the tramway ride up on his blog ‘About the Bike’.

The ‘Big Road’ Bike – Salsa Fargo 2011

Been lusting after a Salsa Fargo since late 2009.. Finally have one in hand. Intentions for this bike? Touring. Lots of touring. Dirt road touring. Remote area touring. First cap off the rank? A sub24 dirt run, Dover return via the Southern Forests May 14/15 (shoot me an email if you want to come along). Initial thoughts on the bike? Big. Burly. Point and shoot. May have over cooked the wheelset a touch, but hell, I like it. Pics are from a sunset jaunt out to Apex Point, White Beach. Great spot on the hill overlooking the fish farm and across to Roaring Beach, with Mount Wellington in the far distance.

Motown Soul

Check out this trick video of Sean Walling from Soulcraft building a custom frame. Beautifully filmed and edited, with a very nice result at the end.

FROM STEEL: The Making of a Soulcraft from michael evans on Vimeo.

I dunno about wherever the rest of you are, but down here in Hobart it’s absolutely shitting down. With the Spring Classics happening (or happened) and the paths and roads swiftly filling with mud it only seems fitting to throw the knobby tyres back on the ‘cross bike after its summer romance with the slicks. While the high-stacked excuses of grocery shopping, a blocked nose, absolute driving rain and darkness are doing a fair job of keeping me off the bike tonight, I’m swearing that the rest of Autumn and Winter won’t see it continue. Mud’s for riding in, and if it ain’t muddy for the next few weeks I’ll be a surprised (and dry) man. So throw on some merino, grit your teeth and get amongst it. And if you spot a slow moving brown mess somewhere out there, be sure to offer me a cup of hot chocolate or a pint of something delicious.

And is anyone organising a cyclocross series in Southern Tasmania yet?

Charity, Bitches!

A new computer always means I forget to check my e-mail for ages, so I’ve been doing some catching up this evening. Got this one from Dan, who’s doing some hefty miles for a decent cause, and on a decent sized wheel. It doesn’t take much to throw some money towards good stuff, so support a BnCer and flip your credit card towards the computer. You’ll feel good about it.

Freeway Penny Farthing Hike, 20 March, 2011

When I registered for the Freeway Bike Hike this week I noticed this “Everydayhero” link pop up and I got a little annoyed by it.  However, on reflection, I have had some close calls with asthma sufferers over the years including one young fellow in Esperance that I thought was gone forever (fortunately he lived to breath another day).  Therefore, in the interests of community spirit (and because some dude on a penny farthing in the Eastern States apparently raised $100,000 for asthma research), I thought “let’s give it a go.”

For the uninitiated, the ride starts at Kwinana and finishes at Joondalup, a distance of 60 kms.  Of course that leaves one 60 kms from one’s car, so the obvious solution is to ride back to Kwinana.  In my case, that’s 120 kms glued to the saddle on a 55” fixed-wheel, one speed, hi-wheel bike.

I welcome your donation so, if you feel so inclined, please go to http://www.everydayhero.com.au/daniel_talbot_9 and make a pledge.

Feel free to forward this onto anyone you please.  If, on the other hand, unsolicited emails requesting donations give you the shits, please disregard this short missive.

Have a nice day, Dan.

 

Classic Colnago Frame up for grabs

Up for sale is a classic 1970’s hand built Colnago Track Frameset. Constructed from Columbus SL steel. A well loved frame, that has won many track meets and carnivals. With classic Colnago detailing, this item includes its original matching crome fork, Campagnolo seatpost and bottom bracket, and headset. The frame has had no crashes and tubing is all in good order however there are cosmetic scratches in the painted finish, please look at the images closely.

Frame details :

Seat Tube, Centre to Centre: 53cm

Top Tube , Centre to Centre: 54cm

Rear Spacing: 120mm

Fork Spacing: 100mm

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330536844276 check it.

more pics on my flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/jordan_davis/

peace.