Friday Bluurgh!

It’s friday. It’s raining… spewin’! No riding today, well not for me anyway but I bet Dave is out there getting a wet backside! Haha, sucks to be a courier sometimes eh mate! Well I hope the downpour stops in time for track tonight..

Ah, now what rubbish am I gunna talk about today? (Haha, whilst the boys are away in Melbs no-body can edit my posts!)Well I’ve mentioned my opinion on the merits of er, riding plus .05 before..^^^^ so perhaps I should voice my views on riding with tunes? Yeah, why not..

My Old Man reckons that stuffing headphones in ya ears whilst riding is a sure-fire recipe for disaster. You can’t hear the traffic about you and you’re effectivly losing 1 of the 5 (?) senses.. I suppose he has a point, but for me, the benefits far outweigh the negatives.

I often ride with my mp3 player blaring in my ears and I always seem to ride faster and way harder! ..I think my choice of tunes has alot to do with this. Slayer, Suicidal Tendencies, Mindsnare and Mark of Cain are probably my favourite riding tunes (it’s all about matching drum-beats with heart rate.. ) although Slayer can be a tad much.. I’ve hit a pretty solid double that I normally wouldn’t touch whilst cranking ‘Angel of Death’..!

..but then again, I tried to ride up Mount Wellington trails listening to Lee Scratch Perry.. made it way harder than it needed to be.

Hope your having fun riding in Melbs Mischa! Show those mainlanders ‘how we roll’ in Tassie! (insert B’n’C team salute here).

Ben

Maximum output, activate the pit!

“[Scott] Vogel is widely known in the scene not just for his tireless efforts to keep hardcore punk and metalcore “pure” and “fun,” but for his love of stagedives, and for his tendency for bizarre and often hilarious on-stage banter, known colloquially as “Vogelisms“. Examples include: “We need to elevate the maximum stagedive potential”, “Take this shit to the next level”, “Who cares if you’re Christian?”, and “Maximum output! Activate the pit!””

– Wikipedia

Vogelisms.com
(Hit refresh for a new quote)

Terrorhc.com

Road signs always look better looking over your shoulder

Ben and I went for a ride out to Richmond yesterday. It was fairly windy, but we were keen for a pie. We got buzzed by big trucks quite a few times, which is never fun. Highways aren’t exactly the best place for bike riding but we came out alive.

We got a good pie and a shit coffee from the place where I had my first ever job, The Richmond Bakery. Many a summer day was spent alternating between staring at a pile of dishes and gazing longingly at the warm weather outside. Free lunch is always a pleasure though.

We took some photos…

Continue reading “Road signs always look better looking over your shoulder”

GODDAMN CANNUCKS!

You might have read on Fyxomatosis/House Of Pistard a few days ago about some crazy Canadian working as a courier in London. A fuckwit in a Mercedes tried to kill him, and as can happen in situations where morons bring you close to death, he snapped. It ended with a bike through a windscreen, or as some like to call it ‘justice’.

Anyway, it turns out the crazy bastard was none other than the brother of local Hobart-based Canadian courier Dave “American Possum” McCaig. It’s a small world after all!

Ryan McCaig
The Older McCaig

You can read some details about the whole thing here. The kids at House Of Pistard are doing a heap of stuff to cover Ryan’s (or as we like to call him, American Dave Snr’s) damage costs, including some ripper t-shirts. Punk rock fans will notice the blatant rip-off of The Clash’s London Calling CD cover, and we whole-heartedly approve.

McCaig T-shirt

Go buy one so Dave has someone to hang out with when he gets to London!

B’n’C Ramblings

Well, it has been a busy few weeks for the B’n’C team.. The ‘Disciples’ ride weekend, Mount Wellington runs, epic fixed rides, training at Newtown Oval, track racing, bike building, frame hunts, beers, bbq’s and bands! It’s all full steam ahead!!

So a brief overview of a few memorable moments is in order..

Aladdin’s Cave

Mischa and I got wind of a farm shed out in the country jam-packed with old bikes.. We made contact with the owner and got the ok to take a squiz inside and found a treasure-trove of old-school rides! There were bmx’s from the 1980’s, a track bike from about 1910, a fixed Massey-Harris from the 1890’s, about two dozen Malvern Stars with 3-speed hubs and an uber cool Ken Self town bike with sparrow bars dating from approx the mid 1950’s. Must have been 200 odd bikes in this shed.. totally over-awed when I saw it! We’ll be keeping the location a secret, I’m a Surfie by trade so it’ll be like Mischa and my ‘secret spot’! 

Iron Chef Grundalingus

This was one event that came outta of left field.. Last saturday at the Macquarie Mansion, Mat Grundy showed that he has more than one string for his bow, whipping up what was perhaps THE best asian stir-fry I have ever had! He catered to all comers, vegan and meat-lovers and did so in style.  Not only is Grundalingus a bike mechanic of some repute but he is also a quite capable food mechanic. Top work Mat!

 Acoustics in the Park

The Disconnect boys put on a top arvo at the West Hobart SK8 Bowl last weekend. Beers, tunes and a free bbq. The day was an absolute pearler, one of those that make you love being in Hobart. I arrived just as Linc Le Fevre was playing.. He was sitting in the shade under-neath a big tree, cracking out one of his more laid-back numbers, while about 20 or so punters sat around watching.. nice.

We had arounded up another ‘import rider’ for the B’n’C team that morning and recruited him for the festivities. Dutchman Tim Smit had arrived in Hobart the night before and his first Tasmanian experiance was this event. He was pretty stoked as he immediately had secured about a dozen bike riding buddies and had beer being pushed into his hands.. rad way to arrive in a new town eh?

A few of the crew hit the bowl on their skaties. Jib put on a pretty good display, grinding a few lips and turning over the top of ‘thrasher’ corner. No skin was lost.

Track Racing

We’re into our fifth week of track racing now and slowly the B’n’C boys are improving. Clint and I have been getting a few tips from Simon Price, Vanders and Dave about the tricks of track and have even come up with a few er, ‘new’ tricks of our own (read: sprinting flat out from the start.. ie, brawn NOT brain racing! haha!) It’s been pretty fun so far. One friday night we had about 10 or so B’n’C supporters sitting on the grass watching.. The more beers they drank the louder the cheering got and the faster we went!

Hoping to hit a few of the Christmas Carnivals under the B’n’C banner.. maybe Hobart and St Helens? Dunno how we’ll go but it’ll be a good opportunity to learn some more and meet of few of the inter-state crew.

Lesson Learned

..and finally I’ll end with the lesson I learned the hard way.. ‘don’t let Jimmy Black steer the boat’ (it’ll end in tears).

Ben

Bikes and Bridges

Defiance Ohio are a totally neat band from Florida. They make awesome heartfelt folk punk music about good stuff (including bikes). They’re touring here in January. You show go and see them.

Even Columbus looks better on the back seat of a bike and all my fears get washed away in a stream of blinking lights and the concrete strip below seems less like a noose and more like a tie that binds or at least a tourniquet. it’s been such a hard season and the bridges we burned might be all we had to keep us from drowning. but at least we had this time; and i’d like to think we’re better off for it. i’ll remember this. sometimes broken things make the best building supplies. and we’ll keep on building. hearts aren’t made of glass, they’re made of muscle and blood and something else. and they don’t so much as break as bend and tear. we have what it takes to keep it together; and move on.

-Defiance Ohio, Bikes and Bridges (from their record Share What Ya Got)

Def,OH said…
Any relationship that matters – a friendship, a family, a romance, a band – anything – is a perilous and fragile thing because along with all the amazing experiences and creations that can come from something so intimate and exhausting comes the possibility for things to crumble and shatter or whither and die. when that happens, it’s easy to forget what was precious amidst all the disaster. we should always carry our history with us but never let it bury us.

Silver Sprocket…yo

Ok, I don’t really understand this website. They say they’re a bike club (somewhere) but it’s pretty much just full of punk rock stuff. I’m totally ok with that, and I think it might just be a way of avoiding being called a ‘record label’ (which can kind of get annoying at times). Either way, you should go have a look ’cause I dig their weird blog and they do stuff for good bands (and Mitch Clem, who rules). Actually, the only band on there that I’ve heard is River City Rebels.

I think they’re mostly just a distro.

The Disciples ride strong!

IronHorse2.jpg

Massive shout out and thanks to all the crew who came out on Saturday for the amazing inaugural BnC event, Disciples Of The Iron Horse!

The sun was out with a genuine brutality that made for a stunning day, and damn harsh weather for riding the blacktop. BnC crew showed early to get things rolling and the Storer Brigade held no punches. The BBQ was fired up, the eskies were chilled and the stereo was turned up to 11. Slowly the wheels started to roll in and registration filled out.

We were graced with the presence of (solo) Team Pevis (McEllendale) who regaled us with tales from the early days of Tasmanian cycling, when men were men and bikes were solid cast iron. Safe to say those chronicles will be making their way to the BnC website in the near future so that they may be recorded for future generations to read, research, study and worship. Viewer discretion may be advised due to mature content, but that’s not the kind of thing to stop us.

Once we got under way the true heat of the day seemed to kick in. A Le Mans start saw our brave competitors sprint the Bocce field in true marathon style and leap upon their iron steeds. Pedals and wheels flew in all directions, but Continue reading “The Disciples ride strong!”

The trials and tribulations of Pevis McEllendale (1882)

An example of the long, rich cycling history that exists throughout Tasmania was sent to the BnC inbox last week. We can only hope that such tales of grandeur and glory are told of us hundreds of years in the future.

Ben said I could be a honourary member of the gang even though I don’t ride one of those fixed chain skinny tyred beasts around in circles.

I think my Great, great, great, great, great grand father Pevis McEllendale (who changed his name to James Clark after a long story) was one of the original Iron Horses of rock who competed in 1882.

Legend has it that Pevis rode a respectable race but failed to finish in the top 3 placings. It is understood that Pevis’s bike was way ahead of it’s time having a hollow steel frame instead of solid cast iron. His bike is rumoured to have weighed only 87kg which was around half of the normal for the time, amazing!

The disadvantage that Pevis faced in 1882 with is that his bike had no seat and Pevis was forced to take it up the ass for the whole 13 hours he raced for. It’s no wonder he missed the podium after that shafting. Apparently the creek crossings were an ordeal!!

So in the memory of old Pevis I have no choice but to enter myself into the Bottles and Chains ‘Disciples of the Iron Horse’ Ride event, with no seat! No scratch that, with seat. My race title will be ‘Pevis McEllendale Jnr’.

Disco.

See you there!