Bottles And Chains

Entries for the 2010 Singlespeed World Champs in Rotorvegas are quickly filling up (450+ already).. so if you want in, sign up now! It’ll be worth the trip across the ditch. Need a warm up? Hit Q’town for the NZud Singlespeed Championships this April.. I’ll be there along with the regular BnC/SSSS mob, wielding the lowest gear I can get my hands on! Q’town in mountainous baby! Not a OS traveller? Well rumours of the 2010 Australian Singlespeed Nationals are rife.. sounds like the lads from the Canberra One Gear Society will be hosting later in the year and you know how good the Canberra trails are! Start saving ya pennies!

For those not currently enjoying the great outdoors, have a read of the ‘Wideopen Magazine’  article on Cotic Cycles ‘Simple’ and check out this radical flick of team rider Robbie Rickman rippin’ on one HERE. The vid at least will get ya stoke-on for dirt an’ ya backside off the couch..

Best thing about riding a singlespeed? Nothing changes.

Fuck, it’s a bit slow around here. I can’t be arsed posting shit all the time, and I haven’t spent enough time drunk and on the bike to have anything worth talking about. Go do some shit, the weather’s good.

(I added a crappy mobile phone of a sweeeeet bike I found in Daylesford last weekend – L-Dub)

Did I ever mention my crazy mate, ‘Doctor Bentree’*,  from Mutitjulu? Legend of a bloke. Used to help out at the community bicycle workshops, hitch-hike to work with his clothes inside-out, smoke oodles of fish (cod?), feed, clothe and tend to the elderly Aboriginal people, drive ‘unwell’ Rangers around in the health clinic bus, dance like a champion, photographic memory, make art etc, etc.. but as to his velo-centric claim to fame? The Doc was hit by lighting whilst pedaling through the desert in the midst of a massive thunder storm..! Said it felt like “touching a big electric fence“, haha. Gold.

Anyway, the Doc bailed on Centralia a few months back to head down to Wollongong for a full medical scholarship at the local uni there.. Think there must have been some scholarship coin left over ’cause a short-time later the Doc leaves me a drunken voice msg at 2am mumbling something about “going to Africa” and a week later a photo of a Rhino with an erection pops up on his Facebook account.

So now he’s got my interest.. What the fk? Is he actually in Africa or at the Dubbo Plains Zoo?? Had to find out so I moused over and clicked on the album. This is what I find..

Aw man, he’s bikepackin’ in AFRICA! That’s radical!! So next I write to him, “Doc what’s the story?”. His reply is as follows:

Rented this beast of a bike with a rock hard plank of wood seat and rode around this national park – nicely titled ” Hells gate”.

Awesome 2 day ride, wicked scenery and the only park you can get out of a vehicle, so was nice to ride amongst the buffalo, water hoggs girafffes zebras and the african animals (thankfully no lions). Decided that i wanted to go bush and get dirty. Headed out to pick up a tent from a dodgey corner store in the nearby village, so by the time i arrived to the camp site its dark – i find out that the tent is hmm fcked to say the least and i realised i was camping once again without a torch. This was the start of me african adventures.

So after sitting down to me can of beans dinner, i realise, that being bush in afro is different then being bush in aus- as i had now entered the food chain. (insert noise of zebras rooting in the background) All is good, untill those little hairs on the back of your neck stand up for no reason, and you feel eyes watching you. Hienas… buffalos… hmmm… the unknown. Decided then at that stage to stay awake all night and watch the stars and wait for the sun to come up. Ended up falling asleep sitting up and this is me welcoming the daylight the next day after a “night in Hell” (near the gate) or Hells gate national park (no pun intended). Nah it was awesome.

Awesome eh? Another BnC radventure! Top shit Doc!

*(name changed to protect the ‘un tarnished and very clean’ reputation of the incumbent)

Perfect way to finish off a weekend? A quick spin on the dirt sounds pretty close to hitting the mark. A txt or two rousted up the lads from their sunday slumber and down to the Longley Hotel for another ‘Tramway Dirt Run’. Gus and I turned up early, so we grabbed a seat, tucked into a couple of draughts and watched a beltin’ blues set in the beer garden.

Once Lingy and Clinton rocked up we rolled out and headed up the hill to Allens Rivulet for our first stretch of dirt. The climb out of the Rivulet and up to Kaoota is excellent..  ..I’ve been reading a bunch of Dave’s ‘Vintage Bicycle Quarterly’ magazines which do a fair bit of pluggin’ old school alpine cycling. Think fixed gears, woollen jerseys, 650b and handlebar bagged bikes being flogged across the donkey cart tracks of high altitude France and you’ve got it. Those mags have really has wet the palette for dirt climbs and this one certainly fitted the bill: steep, loose and a great big alps style road switchback.

From Kaoota we descended the old coal tramway to Margate. The tramway is probably a tad rough for the CX bikes we were on but hey, why not make it a fun trip? We really opened the throttle on the downhill and pushed the bikes hard. My steel framed bike really excelled in soaking up the bumps (two thums up for 4130!) and I finally worked out descending in the drops. Rad. Crossed the ‘Presidential Gap’ (Previously known as ‘Kiwi’s Gully’) on the rickety bridge and down in Margate via some paddocks and a horse trail. No leeches hitched a ride on this occasion 

The return loop was fun as we discussed the merits of gears, steel and the 20 plus bikes stored in a certain BnC’ers garage. Really was a great arvo out, sure beats the hell out of sitting indoors infront of a computer game (Mischa).

It’s stinking hot, my lap top is melting, so I’ll make this quick

Y’all have a good new year & a drunk & disorderly 2010.

El Presidente.

When? Sunday 27 Decemeber @ 11:00am.

Where? Start and finish @ the Longley Tavern.

Why? Riding bikes is rad. Riding bikes uphill, downhill, on roads both paved and dirt, along streams and among trees is rad. Riding with mates is rad. Why else?

What is the plan? Kick off from from the Longley Tavern soon after 11:00am, head up the hill to Lower Longley, across Vinces Saddle to Halls Track, descend into Pelverata, climb up to Kaoota, down the old tramway route to Nierinna, across to Poverty Gully and down into Margate via the Rivulet Track, up Sandfly Road and return to Longley, grab some takeaway beers and cool our feet in the picturesque Northwest Bay River (Longley Waterhole). It’s not a huge day in the saddle, nor too hard but you may want to throw some wider rubber (28c+) on your road bike should you choose to ride one… pace won’t be fast so mountain bikes and townies are welcome to join us. Again, it should be fun as fuck.

Last year(?) we had a BnC ‘Silo Run’ that morphed into a kind-of ‘Grass Track Dual Slalom/4X-ish’ event in the Pirate Ship Park, Battery Point. T’was a great day, we drank beer, listened to tunes, swapped bikes and threw ourselves down the Park’s steep grassy slope on a sunny Saturday arvo.. sounds like fun eh? Well, to finish painting the picture here is a link to the original post event post:

https://www.bottlesandchains.com/?p=652 

..and another link to a description of ‘Dual Slalom’ for the uninitiated:

http://mountainbike.about.com/od/fitnesstrainingracing/f/Dual_Slalom_faq.htm

A few of the BnC heads are keen to revisit that afternoon, so over a ‘few’ beers at the AGM it was decided that this Boxing Day arvo fitted the bill and yes folks, the second annual Pirate Ship Park Grass Track Dual Slalom event is on!

Want the wood on this event? Yep.. Any type of bike will work and (ahem) ‘racing’ will be tailored to all levels of skill and (lack of) fitness etc, etc. Time? Meet at the ‘Pirate Ship’ at 2:00pm, 26 December. BYO beer, stubby cooler, esky, bike etc.. We’ll try and roust up a stezza and some tunes. Afterwards we may or may not go and eat at the Vietnamese Kitchen and have a flatland/trials comp. Come along! You know it’ll be fun!

 

It’s been a busy fours weeks back on the Southern Isle. No sign of the baby yet and I’ve been rackin’ up some serious dirt-road miles with a few of the BnC lads. I’ve had upteen flats and the center lugs on my new tires are already showing signs of wearing out! As I’ve just arrived home from a overnighter to Bagdad can’t say that I’m too pumped on typing up a ‘proper’ post.. so instead I’ll link to two of Surly Dave’s post’s on some recent BnC missions in the deep south: Out Along the Huon and Another Forest Mission

If these daytrips have wet the palette keep Sunday 27th December free, Dave and I are planning another dirtbag trip to a yet to be decided destination. Keep you posted.