Hellbound And Pedalling
Neil pointed me in the direction of the CyclingFans.com website the other day. Amongst other good things, it has some great shots from the Tour of California by Michael Crook. Go have a look. I also found a shot of Tassie boy Jai Crawford on his website, which was a bit of a spin-out.
Yep.
Anyone want to buy a nice wheelset? I’m selling the wheels off my CX bike. They’re sexy as hell and haven’t been ridden much at all. Probably 300km at the most. Have we established that I’m lazy yet?
The details:
Congrats to Jordy and Tom who took out the Men’s Pairs win and grabbed line honours at the Four Springs 4hr MTB race on the weekend. Apparently being a fit bastard is good for something! I broke my race virginity on that course and I was wheezing before I even made it into the pines.
I don’t read the Cycling Tips blog very often, but I followed a link to this delicious page earlier today. It’s making me hungry, and I just ate dinner.
We’re planning a similarly-named BnC race supplement at the moment, but we’re a bit stuck when it comes to how much vodka to put in it. Personally I’m a firm believer in the ‘more is more’ philosophy, but that usually ends up with me on the dance floor at Mobius, which can be hazardous to bystanders.
So a few months back we went for a bit of a roll down south. Ben, Kiwi, Hunners and I loaded up and hit the gravel, making our way to Egg & Bacon Bay via a few choice back roads. Hunners came along on his SS roadie and peeled off after a while, while the remaining three of us continued on for an overnight stay and a fine selection of Tassie mussels, bad pub food and far too much (not enough) beer. I took along my ailing old digicam and took a heap of bad, over-exposed, blurry photos. Here they are, and it’s a fine tale they tell…
“The car’s high speed, particularly relative to walking, creates an aggressiveness that must be constrained. Certainly it has not been possible to rely on the self-restraint of the individual motorist, whose motoring decision-making is usually singularly self-centred.
“For a while it was thought that simply providing more and more street space was the solution. But this has rarely proved effective, and one of the major advances in recent times has been the use of a restricted street system to forcibly civilize the car.”
Strong stuff. Must have been written by a Bolshevik bicyclist? A sandal-chewing, lentil-wearing hippy? An Autogeddonist? A car-hating loon?
Nope.
It’s from a book by Maxwell Gordon Lay, author of Handbook of Road Technology and Ways of the World: A History of the World’s Roads and the vehicles that used them.
His car credentials include being Executive Director of the Australian Road Research Board and he was Chairman of the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria.
Thanks to Carlton Reid of Quickrelease TV for the heads up on this one.
(Notice the driver in the photo on the f*cking phone)
How freakin’ awesome is THIS shot? Daniel Talbot killing it on the big wheels..
For Sale
An oldie but goody. It is a bit scruffy and in need of a bit of TLC and new tubulars, or a wheel rebuild for clinchers. A complete restoration job would be even better of course.
Aero tubing and Dura Ace DX (?) seat post and stem, Campag headset, Cinelli bars, Gaili Maillard hubs and Sugino crank.
Top tube 57cm, seat tube 54cm (c to c) standover 79cm.
Offers? No idea what it would be worth!
Queenstown, New Zealands ‘Mountain Capital’. I’m 8kgs over weight, haven’t ridden a mountain bike in anger in 12mths and I arrived with a singlespeed.. ‘Oh God, what have I done?’
First mountain bike ride. 452 meters of vertical climbing, 2 meters of cycling, 450 meters of walking.. ‘Oh God, what have I done?’
What sick, twisted fucker thought holding a singlespeed event in this steep ass town?
(Ben deleted this post for some reason. It has been restored so that proper heckling may continue. – Ed.)
Holy shit, the best bike in the world is for sale!
For a complete bastard of a reason, we will no longer be selling Scott brand bicycles in the fine retail establishment that provides me with employment and entertainment. This sucks for several reasons, one of which being that they make pretty sweet bikes and I’ve really quite enjoyed being able to sell them. Another reason and possibly the most sucky-est, is that I kinda have to sell a bike that has been nothing but awesome, and resulted in nothing but thick grins and a giddy head (ok, and a bunch of cursing at myself for not riding it as much as I should). I’ve had my Scott Genius 40 (2009) for just over a year now and it’s been more fun than I could have ever imagined.
The six inches of front and rear travel is pretty much the golden mean of the cycling world as far as I’m concerned. Light enough to get up any hill without much effort at all, but big enough that I’ve been able to hook back down again at speeds far beyond my comfort level (my standard comfort level is: couch, while the trails are usually: swimming with sharks and burly). Not only that, but the forks are Fox TALAS 150s, so they’re plenty versatile(110-130-150mm). Combine that with the small piece of future-tech that is the rear shock and you’ve got a bike that’ll handle pretty much anything you throw it at. The (DT Swiss) Equalizer 2 rear shock has 150mm of travel, but is fitted with a remote lever that allows you to reduce that to 95mm and firm everything up at the same time. It means you get rear wheel travel at a rate that pretty much glues the rear tyre to the ground and will climb up and over anything so long as you keep your legs going round in circles. I am a terrible climber but the Genius has seen me overtake people I really shouldn’t, usually on climbs that I’d probably rather avoid. It’s also got a lockout, for those shitty times when you end up riding up sealed roads.
The whole bike’s in excellent condition. It hasn’t seen nearly as much riding as it should have (ask anyone who knows me), and it spent almost all of last winter inside due to me being a soft bastard who’s afraid of the cold and the rain. The drivetrain’s got plenty of life in it, the forks have no wear at all, and the rear shock is running like a dream. There are a few tiny marks from regular wear and tear, but overall it’s pretty much as sexy as the day I bought it. It’s been serviced regularly and checked, cleaned and lubed after almost every ride (with wax lube, none of that grimy oil).
Anyway, I’m chasing $3,000 for it, which is pretty much a decent price I reckon. It’s a Large size, so if you’re between 5’10” and 6’1″ you’ll probably do alright on it.
If you’re interested (or know someone who might be), drop me an e-mail: mischa[at]aetheus.com
Here are some more beautiful photos of it…
Keep reading for a full spec list…