Bottles And Chains

 

Mashmonster’s flatmate Stew spent a number of years living in London where he was involved with a group who promoted sustainable living in the city. These guys grew their own vegies all did all the usual treehugging activities that hippies everywhere typically get up to.. except these guys were way cooler! Ever heard of ‘Guerilla Bicycle Advocacy’?? Nup, me neither.. but this is what Stew and his hippy buddies were into.. At night they’d head out into the city with a can of white paint and a bike stencil and paint in their own bike lanes. Awesome. Apparently it worked pretty well as most drivers didn’t notice that the new lanes weren’t legit and moved over for the cyclists. This yarn really appealed to me eh. Anyway here is a link to a London blog on ‘Guerilla Bike Lane Painting’: http://londoncommons.net/node/945 http://www.thirdraildesignlab.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=6769 

Tune into ‘Breakfast with Andy Muirhead’ on 936 ABC Hobart tomorrow morning (Friday 14 March) at 7:35am if you would like to hear Andy interview BnC about the club, fixed street riding and this coming weekends ‘Century Ride’. I’m not sure if anyone at BnC headquaters will be able to talk coherantly at this hour of the morning (that’s right eh Coach?) but I reckon it’ll be worth switching on the wireless for!

I’m not sure how new this is, but it’s a very sweet piece of work. Anyone who’s ridden on the road with cars knows that way too many drivers are oblivious to the fact that cyclists exist. More often than not it’s combined with a mobile phone (illegal while driving mind you) and a big 4WD of some kind. Just the right ingredients to kill someone. While I’m not sure how effective TV/Internet campaigns are for actually waking drivers up when they’re in their cars, every little bit helps. If it leads to one less cyclist getting mowed down by an inattentive driver then it’s done its job.

Go check out the link. Hopefully it gets seen by people outside of London as well.

More info here.

This coming Sunday (March 16th) a few of the boys from Bottles and Chains will be turning out for the Bike Week’s, ‘Century Ride’.. A 100km loop around the back roads of Hobart, Clarence, the Southern Midlands and Glenorchy. Surly Dave will be using this as a training ride, warming up in preperation for his tilt at the 360km Audax ‘Oppy All Day Trial’ on April 25th.. I’m not sure if Dave will ride his Long Haul Trucker fixed or not..  I’ll be taking out the Emo, complete with 74 fixed gear inches, for a spin around the loop. If ya keen to come for a blast and fly the BnC colours, drop us an email.  Anyway, I’ve attached a few notes below: (Taken from the Cyclingtas website)

“Riding 100km in a single day is a proud achievement for any cyclist. This is your chance to reach that milestone or improve on last year’s time.”“The route will be the same as last years. It starts at the Hobart Cenotaph and will go over the Tasman Bridge using the roadway with a police escort. Riders will travel 2-abreast over the bridge in a single group.
The route then heads out to Cambridge and Seven Mile Beach before heading north to Tea Tree, back through Richmond, over the Bowen Bridge and back to the finish at the Cycling Festival at the Cenotaph.”

“There will be two checkpoints along the route where water will be available. You will also be able to refuel at Richmond approximately 3/4 of the way through the ride.”

Start time Registration from 8am; Pre-ride briefing 8.45am; Departure 9am

Location Hobart Cenotaph

Distance 100km (4 to 7 hrs)
Entry fee Adults $20, U/16 $10; Bicycle Tas members FREE

Sunday dawned and against my Wifes orders I turned out for the Mt Wellington Challenge. The hacking cough I’d been battling for the past week was in full effect and breathing was proving difficult.. but having made a 6pack wager with Danger-Tim as to who would be quickest to the top, pride was on the line. A field of 115 riders turned out at the Longly Pub for the start of the Challenge (interestingly the Dutchman was no-where to be seen) ..BnC multi-sport nut, Bucks, was there reppin’ the colours. He wasn’t feeling too confident as his carbon road bike was still sporting a big hole in it from his last spill.. The Challenge was run in a time-trial format.. I was 4th of the mark and Bucks started at about 10th. The climb from the start to Ferntree was ok and the 63 gear inches I’d chosen to ride felt fine.. From the Pinnacle Road turn off at Ferntree to the Springs was also not a problem and I was making good time.. I felt good despite my chest cold and riding a fixie wasn’t posing any problems at all.. actually the first 15kms could even be described as easy.. but that soon changed.. I rode through the Springs where a small crowd lined the road (for a second I imagined myself being in the Tour De France cresting an Alpine pass..) and then up towards the summit.. and then the pain began. Mt Wellington was recently named in one Australian cycling mag as being one of the 3 toughest hill climbs in the country and as I pedalled my fixie upwards I was discovering why.. The gradiant was nasty and it was difficult to push each pedal stroke down. I was in a bad place. My cold was giving me dramas and I knew if I stopped for a break I wouldn’t be able to restart the fixie on that steep incline. One guy rode past and asked if my bike was a single speed or fixed.. I went to reply but spewed all down the front of my bike.. oh shit. It was hard. Dan and Blingman caught me on the long straight up to Big Bend.. Not wanting to be whupped badly by Blingman I picked up the pace and put my foot down.. I rounded the bend and spotted the summit which was only 2kms away. Knowing a beer was waiting at the end I kicked again and threw everything at the last assault and crossed the line in 1:20.  Bucks was there waiting for me, he had ridden the Mountain in an impressive 1:11. I’ll be back for more next year but I’ll retire the Surly Emo and take my lighter Avanti Pista up.

We here at BnC HQ were nodding our heads in approval when we saw the price on the KHS Flite 100 complete fixed gear bike. Nothing amazing but it will get you rolling without destroying your wallet and credit rating, while still giving you something relatively solid. I’m always keen to encourage people to try riding fixed, ’cause it’s a shitload of fun and I reckon the more people on them the better. So if you’re keen to give it a try and have a few spare bills lying around, go bug your LBS to order one in.

Want to measure your cycling muscle against Monster BnC riders Beans and Danger-Tim? Take the BnC challenge by riding your single speed, fixie or fat tyred flyer to the top! Mishmash will be at the finish with a 6pack of beer to present to the fastest BnC Hillclimber. Who will it be? The Dutchman? Jesus?* Grundalingus? The field is wide open..

Sunday 9 March – Mt Wellington Challenge
Weather forecast for Sunday is fine with maximum of 28 degrees. Perfect for an early climb up the mountain. Register at Longley Hotel from 8am. Cost $20. For more see:

http://www.cyclingsouth.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=26&Itemid=50

*Bucks formely was known as ‘Jesus’ due to his long hair, beard and penchant for walking on water.

Former Hobart Courier, Hunners, is about to hit London with his bike after a year on the road in South America. As you can guess, Mat spent all of his money on Columbia’s national product and is broker than a Uni student after O-Week.. Given his current fiscal state, backpackers aren’t an option. So here’s a shout out on Mat’s behalf, ‘is there anybody in the extended Bottles and Chains family that has contacts in London that would let Hunners bunk down on their couch for a few days until he hooks up a Courier job?’ If you do know someone, shoot us an email at BnC headquaters and we’ll pass on your details to Mat. Cheers.

Sunday was pretty much the perfect day for riding. A clear, slightly breezy day of about 22 degrees, three men slightly hungover and overtired, and a cruisy two-hour ride to be had. Ben, Mischa and I met up in Salamanca, and headed over the Tasman Bridge, following the bike paths to the Geilston Bay BMX track for a bit of fixed BMX riding, or FXMX, as we’ve come to call it.

The track at Geilston Bay is pretty rough, with some deep gravelly corners, old-style jumps and burms, and even some local skids complete with mullets, trackies, and wifebeaters burning around on BMXs. We put in a bit of training on the track before heading off home over the bridge again to Salamanca.

FXMX, for the uninitiated, is basically Fixed Bicycle Motocross. The idea is to race as fast as you can around a BMX track, but an added degree of difficulty is that you do it fixed on your street machine. Modifications to bikes are encouraged but not necessary. Pulling shapes, or ‘getting rad’, off the top of the kickers on the track is optional, but adds more style to your ride. Riding is often battled out as much with elbows and knees as it is with pedals and tyres, and competitors often wear armour, similar to keirin or BMX racers.

It’s looking like winter is going to be featuring some more FXMX riding as we try to get through riding the winter months in a town that likes to change its weather every five minutes.

Stay tuned for more updates on the FXMX trend. Remember, you saw it here first.