Bottles And Chains

The dates for the 2008/2009 Tasmanian Christmas Carnivals have been announced yo! Dates are as follows:

• Rosebery: Saturday December 20th, 2008
• Latrobe: Friday December 26th, 2008
• Launceston: Sunday, December 28th, 2008
• Devonport: Monday & Tuesday, December 29th & 30th, 2008
• Burnie: Thursday 1st January, 2009
• Hobart: Sunday 4th January, 2009
• St Helens: Saturday 17th January, 2009

Time to start preparing for the upcoming Track Season. Hobart Wheelers will hopefully be resuming the Friday night track training sessions at Newtown Oval and for those further north, Alice Spring Cycling Club opens it’s 333 meter, 37 degree banked concrete velodrome every Sunday arvo for training rides. Hopefully we’ll see some serious BnC representation @ these Carnivals and if I remember correctly the Brunswick riders were keen to do a VS BnC Teams challenge in the lead up to Hobart. So go on cadets, throw 92 on ya fixie and hit the Track! 

Check  http://www.fixedgearfever.com/modules.php?name=Velodromes&op=list&cid=au to read a short blurb and see a Google Earth satellite image of each of these venues yo. 

So I’ve been in Melburn for about six weeks now, and have been riding pretty much daily. It’s a different breed of cyclist here. Commuters are generally happy to keep their scowls fixed in place, stare straight ahead and don’t make eye contact. Roadies in full team kit and Specialized and Cannondale carbon numbers cruise through the ‘burbs but will generally say hello if you press them. Fixed riders will either snob you or do the ol’ neck crane to check out your bike, some no doubt mentally taking stock so they can rush home and blog about it. Commuter racing is in full swing, with some people getting really mad if you overtake them. Meh. Three cyclists dead within two weeks, one found on the road alone, one crushed under a bus, one hit by a car on a cruisy suburban ride.

Bike paths criss-cross the city and are a slower ride than the busier streets, dodging dogs and their walkers, kids with frisbees, and recumbent riders taking up the whole goddamn path. The other option’s taking the road and dealing with a constant stream of traffic and always hoping that the stream of cars waiting to turn across you will see you blowing through the green in between three lanes of cars.

H picked up a singlespeed cruiser (see above) and has been riding half and hour to work and back again. I’m feeling a bit cheated as it only takes me 7 mins to get to work from our place. I’ve been taking the long way around to try to get at least some feeling of having ridden anywhere. It’s easier to get from A to B than Hobart, but somehow I feel like it’s cheating a bit riding with no hills. There’s no climb home, no dizzy spells when you get in the door, no feeling like you’re going to vomit when you get in the door. I think some longer weekend rides are in order to kick out the cobwebs. Here’s hoping you’re riding hard and having fun doing so.

Im gonna get killed for this…look out for the worldwide adventures of Buffalo Bills brake.

Yo kids, management seem to have worked out this intermail eweb thingy and the site is back up. So heres a quick update from the Mother Country. After several months of living the dream, drinking far too much alcohol and tearing my arse out on the super smooth and well maintained streets of London, its all over. Time to cash my ticket in and head back to the little island. I came, i rode, i survived. Just. If we were talkin footy, the number of hard ball gets and tackles laid is way up there. Pity none of them paid off. I left bruised but not broken, expensive cars were left with a permanent impression of me and as for the black cabs…my last shepherd came off badly. Still, riding alleycats paraletic and playing chicken with solid objects is never a good idea. So goodbye to all the cats in London, i had a hoot and Taz 25 is outta here…ya cunts

So the scorecard…

Number of drunken crashes – lots

Number of sober crashes – not many

Number of drunken crashes remembered – not many

Number of riders who windmilled the pink panther on windmill street – 3

Okay been a slacker, its all going down, the beer and me after it riding home drunk. I went to scotland, i survived and came home. There was a courier race in there somewhere. If you guys have a spare half hour sit down and have a listen to this. A day in the life of the kids im working with…

Buffalo Bill and the Nhatt Attack…

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/pip/fxfcu/

Its all good times here. Its all go at the mo

http://www.londonscalling.info/

http://www.houseofpistard.com/

http://www.millportpoloco.blogspot.com/

Hunnibell

The debate is finally settled and the results are in.

Gears officially blow .

Like an anchor they add weight and slow you down.  Time is wasted each time you faff about changing them. Do yourselves a favour and ditch the dead weight. Fixed is quite simply faster. I ran a series of er, ‘experiments’ to prove the above statements. Twice I rode the Southern Vets TT @ Sandford, once on a steel fixed gear clunker and the second on a trick full carbon, geared race bike.. AND what happened? I was FASTER on the the FIXED gear! The results speak for themselves:

Geared carbon wunder bike – Time: 23:26    Average Speed: 35.33kmph

Fixed gear steel clunker       –  Time: 23:24    Average Speed: 35.88kmph

Mish-Mash snuck off quietly a few months ago and came back only to escape once again with Benny in tow, this time they’ve headed up to the rock. Dave pissed of yonks ago and has finally surfaced again in Canada (thats his photo up there…). Hunnibell is posting from London. Tim is riding back home in Holland/Belgium/Europe somewhere!?

What does it all mean? Continue reading “Where is everyone?”